Shanghai Port teams up with Greece's Piraeus to boost container traffic

Piraeus Port Authority SA

12/06/2017 15:27

ATHENS, June 12 (Reuters) - Piraeus Port  OLPr.AT , operator 
of Greece's biggest port and majority-owned by China's COSCO 
Shipping  601919.SS , has agreed to team up with the operator of 
Shanghai port, the world's largest container port, to promote 
container shipping traffic. 
    Piraeus, COSCO Shipping and Shanghai International Port 
Group  600018.SS  (SIPG) have agreed to cooperate in project 
planning, staff training and information exchange, Piraeus said 
in a statement on Monday. 
    It said the agreement would create synergies to boost trade 
and create new business opportunities.      
    Shanghai is China's main gateway port to the world and had a 
throughput of 36.5 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent container 
units) in 2015. 
    "The agreement means that huge quantities of goods will be 
transported to Piraeus from Shanghai," Deputy Economy Minister 
Stergios Pitsiorlas said on the sidelines of the event. 
    China has been investing heavily in Greece in recent years.  
COSCO bought a 51 percent stake in Piraeus Port for 280.5 
million euros ($314 million) last year under its plan to make 
Greece a transhipment hub for rapidly growing trade between Asia 
and Eastern Europe. 
    It has the option to buy another 16 percent after five years 
once it completes mandatory investments of 300 million euros to 
upgrade infrastructure. 
    COSCO has been managing two of the port's cargo piers since 
2009 and has helped Piraeus shoot up the world rankings of 
container ports to 44th biggest in 2015 from 93rd in 2010. 
Piraeus had a throughput of 3,750 million TEUs last year and 
expects this to exceed 4 million this year.    
    COSCO plans to increase the volume to 5 million by 2018 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1BZ185 and aims to also increase cruise traffic from 1 
million passengers a year to 1.5 million in the short term. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1HT30R  
    Under China's plan to generate economic prosperity by 
developing a new Silk Road for internatonal trade, China and 
Greece agreed last month to boost cooperation in infrastructure, 
energy and telecommunications. 
 
 
($1 = 0.8929 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Greg Mahlich) 
 ((angeliki.koutantou@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376436; 
Reuters Messaging: angeliki.koutantou.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: GREECE COSCO/SIPG