Greece's Piraeus Port says ruling temporarily halts key investment

Piraeus Port Authority SA

22/03/2022 17:40

(Updates with details from statement)
    ATHENS, March 22 (Reuters) - Piraeus Port, Greece's biggest
port which is majority owned by Chinese shipping group COSCO,
said on Tuesday it had temporarily halted the upgrade of a
cruise terminal, a key component of a major foreign investment,
after a Greek court ruling.
    Greece's top administrative court this month ruled that
approval by Greek authorities of the investment plan, which
included expanding an existing cruise terminal, was deficient
and had to be amended, a source at Piraeus Port Authority (PPA),
the port's operator, told Reuters.
    PPA did not elaborate, but said the ruling caused the
"temporary pausing" of construction work on the cruise terminal.
    It added it was committed to implementing its investment in
Greece, including any possible amendments, and has been closely
working with authorities for "the best possible outcome".
    COSCO bought a 51% stake in Piraeus Port under a 2016
privatisation deal and last year acquired an additional 16%
stake, although it had not fulfilled a key condition of
concluding mandatory investments worth about 294 million euros.
    The company blamed delays beyond its control for that
failure and Athens allowed it to raise its stake by amending the
2016 deal, arguing that any other option would stop investments
and damage the Greek economy.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2QV1OT
    Piraeus has become a major transhipment hub for goods
destined for Mediterranean and Black Sea ports since COSCO took
over its container operations in 2009 and upgraded its
infrastructure.  

 (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Alexander Smith)
 ((Gdansk.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 66 00;))