By Angeliki Koutantou

ATHENS, Sept 22 (Reuters)– China’s most significant delivery business, COSCO Shipping, prepares to increase container quantity at Greece’s most significant port in Piraeus by 35 percent by 2018, the port’s brand-new handling supervisor, Fu Cheng Qiu, informed Reuters on Thursday.

COSCO Shipping, which has the globe’s fourth-largest container delivery fleet, purchased 51 percent of the port’s running business last month for 280.5 million euros ($ 315.5 million), among Greece’s most significant and also most tactical privatisations considering that a financial debt dilemma started in 2009.

COSCO wishes to improve the port’s container web traffic to 5 million TEUs (20-foot comparable container devices) by 2018 under its strategy to transform Greece right into a transhipment center for quickly expanding profession in between Asia and also Eastern Europe, Fu claimed in his very first meeting considering that COSCO took control of the port.

“If we reach that level…Piraeus port would be among the world’s 30 largest container ports,” he claimed from his workplace, embellished with European Union, Chinese and also Greek flags.

The prepared development would certainly take Piraeus to Europe’s fifth-busiest container port from 8th, surpassing Spain’s Algeciras and also Valencia, according to information from internet site PortEconomics.

COSCO has actually been taking care of 2 of the port’s freight piers with its Greek device, PCT, considering that 2009, when the financial debt dilemma locked out the country from financial debt markets and also frightened capitalists away.

The delivery team has actually invested numerous euros to update port centers and also yearly throughput has greater than tripled to 3.3 million TEUs in 2014 from 880,000 TEUs in 2010. It is predicted to get to 3.7 million this year.

Piraeus has actually skyrocketed globe positions of container ports to 44 in 2014 from 93 in 2010, Fu claimed.

Container service make up over half of Piraeus’ overall turn over of around 100 million euros in 2014.

Under the privatisation manage Greece, COSCO needs to end financial investments of regarding 300 million euros in 5 years prior to purchasing an added 16 percent risk in the port.

Fu claimed the extra financial investment would certainly be utilized mostly to update ship repair work, logistics and also cruise ship procedures, including that a thorough service strategy would certainly prepare in November.

Greece has actually been battling to start its economic climate and also minimize young people joblessness of 49 percent after 7 years of austerity-induced economic crisis.

“Through our investments (we want) to create more jobs for the benefit of the local community,” he claimed. “A company, of course, always needs new blood…in order to be growing.”

Piraeus utilizes regarding 1,100 individuals. Labour unions opposed the port sale, being afraid task and also wage cuts and also aggravating work problems.

Fu claimed COSCO “is very careful and very serious about these issues…and is handling them in line with the law”.

($ 1 = 0.8891 euros) (Editing by Mark Bendeich)

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