The Hamburg-
Shanghai Line
4
international networking
What'S NewS Issue 2 February 1996
For the past 10 years, Germany's main port and
China's busiest harbour have had a very special
relationship. In 1985, a partnership agreement
was signed between the two cities resulting in a
major Chinese commercial presence in the
German Port. Burkhard Hedrich of Rabobank
Hamburg and Shanghai's Olivia Chen
put their heads together to see if the close ties
between the two major ports could generate
business for the bank.
'One of the results of the agreement
between Hamburg and Shanghai was the
establishment of a so-called Chinese
European Trade Centre here in Hamburg,'
says Burkhard Hedrich of the Hamburg
trade finance team. 'To date, 150 Chinese
firms have opened purchasing or sales
offices here for their parent companies in
Shanghai. Among them are some of the
biggest Chinese state-owned corporates.'
TRADE FINANCE OPPORTUNITIES
Hamburg is the second largest port in
Europe and handles immense volumes
from all over the world, including China.
'Around 60 percent of all German imports
from and exports to China of about DEM
26 billion in 1994 pass through the port,'
Hedrich confirms. 'It seemed to me that
could open up a lot of opportunities for
trade finance on which Olivia in Shanghai
and our team here could work together.'
Although Hedrich only joined the bank
officially on January 1, he was already at
work on building his new network in the
preceding months. 'I received the go-ahead
to visit Rabobank operations in the Far
East. Initially, the idea was a kind of fact-
finding mission. But having talked to
Rabobank people there, we thought: why
don't we try and do some business.'
OFFERING ADDED VALUE
He contacted Chen in Shanghai who
immediately began setting up a series of
meetings with both top level corporate
prospects and senior government officials
for Hedrich, herself and Hong Kong's
Billy Wong. Eor the past 18 months, Chen
has been positioning Rabobank in the
Chinese market and building good
relationships with prospective clients.
'Many of the giant Chinese state-owned
corporations have been importing and
exporting for decades and they already
have established banking relationships.
The idea that we could provide added
value through our Hamburg office was
definitely an advantage when I started
working out a program for Burkhard's
visit.'
PROFITABLE PROGRAM
The program Chen arranged included a
