:COSCO sees

Piraeus among world's top 30 ports

China's biggest shipping company, COSCO Shipping, plans to ramp up container volume at Greece's biggest port in Piraeus by 35 percent by 2018, the port's new managing director, Fu Cheng Qiu, told Reuters on Thursday.

News ID: 69108

Date: 03 October 2016 - 12:01

According to MANA,COSCO Shipping, which owns the world's fourth-largest container shipping fleet, bought 51 percent of the port's operating company last month for 280.5 million euros one of Greece's biggest and most strategic privatizations since a debt crisis began in 2009.
COSCO wants to boost the port's container traffic to 5 million TEUs by 2018 under its plan to turn Greece into a transhipment hub for rapidly growing trade between Asia and Eastern Europe, Fu said in his first interview since COSCO took control of the port.
"If we reach that level...Piraeus port would be among the world's 30 largest container ports," he said from his office, decorated with European Union, Chinese and Greek flags.
The planned expansion would take Piraeus to Europe's fifth-busiest container port from eighth, overtaking Spain's Algeciras and Valencia, according to data from website PortEconomics.
The shipping group has spent millions of euros to upgrade port facilities and annual throughput has more than tripled to 3.3 million TEUs last year from 880,000 TEUs in 2010. It is projected to reach 3.7 million this year.
Piraeus has shot up world rankings of container ports to 44 last year from 93 in 2010, Fu said.
Piraeus employs about 1,100 people. Labor unions opposed the port sale, fearing job and wage cuts and worsening labor conditions.