Greece's Piraeus Port targets cruise passenger increase - managing director

Piraeus Port Authority SA

21/04/2017 12:53

ATHENS, April 21 (Reuters) - Piraeus Port  OLPr.AT , 
Greece's largest, aims to increase its cruise traffic from 1 
million passengers a year up to 1.5 million in the short-term 
and to 3 million long-term, its managing director, Fu Cheng Qiu, 
said on Friday. 
    COSCO Shipping  600428.SS , which owns the world's 
fourth-largest container shipping fleet, bought 51 percent of 
the port's operating company last year, and plans significant 
investment to turn the port into a transhipment hub for rapidly 
growing trade between Asia and Eastern Europe.  ID:nL8N1BZ185   
    In a speech welcoming a first group of 250 Chinese cruise 
passengers in Piraeus, Fu, who took over last year, said COSCO 
also plans to upgrade cruise services to attract Chinese 
tourists and tap into the port's growth potential in the cruise 
industry in the Mediterranean Sea. 
    Fu said that COSCO has signed an agreement with China's 
third largest air carrier, China Eastern Airlines  600115.SS , 
to bring Chinese tourists to Greece on chartered flights. The 
Chinese will then embark on cruise trips in the Mediterranean 
Sea via Piraeus. 
 
 (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Toby Davis) 
 ((angeliki.koutantou@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376436; 
Reuters Messaging: angeliki.koutantou.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: GREECE PIRAEUS/TRAFFIC