By Angeliki Koutantou

ATHENS, April 8 (Reuters) – Greece sealed the sale of Piraeus Port Authority to China COSCO Shipping Corporation on Friday, whereas putting dockworkers protested towards what would be the nation’s second main privatisation since late final 12 months.

The sale of Greece’s largest port had been halted by the leftist authorities of Alexis Tsipras when it gained elections in January final 12 months but it surely was resumed below Greece’s 86 billion-euro bailout deal agreed with its euro zone companions in August.

Dockworkers walked out on Friday and marched in central Athens to protest towards the deal, which they worry will put their jobs in danger. Container terminals had been shut because of the strike. Brief scuffles broke between police and a few of the protesters

“This is not a concession, it’s a giveaway of property belonging to the Greek people,” Constantinos Tsourakis, a employee on the port, stated. “Why should China be masters of the game at Piraeus and not the Greek state?”

Under the 368.5 million euro ($418.58 million) deal, signed on Friday by China COSCO with Greece’s privatisation company, COSCO will purchase 51 % of Piraeus for 280.5 million and the remaining 16 % for 88 million after 5 years and as soon as it completes investments of 350 million over the following decade.

China COSCO Chairman Xu Lirong, current on the signing, likened Piraeus Port to the ‘Argo’, the ship utilized by Jason and the Argonauts.

“Let the ship sail and bring the Golden Fleece,” Xu stated, including that COSCO would put money into upgrading infrastructure on the port and that new jobs could be created.

“China COSCO Shipping … will continue to be committed to Greek growth in the long-term,” he stated.

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang invited his counterpart Tsipras to go to China, Tsipras’ workplace stated after the signing of the deal on Friday. The journey is deliberate for June.

The complete worth of the COSCO contract is 1.5 billion euros ($1.70 billion), together with further funding, in addition to revenues of 410 million euros, dividends and curiosity Greece is anticipating to gather below the 36-year concession deal between Piraeus Port and the federal government.

Privatisations, a significant component of Greece’s bailouts since 2010, have produced income of solely 3.5 billion euros thus far due to political resistance and bureaucratic hurdles.

Athens concluded a 1.2 billion euro airport leasing cope with Germany’s Fraport in December, hoping this is able to assist the nation meet this 12 months’s goal for privatisation proceeds of 1.9 billion euros.

In January, Greece named COSCO as the only bidder for Piraeus Port. he port, a gateway to Asia, japanese Europe and north Africa, dealt with 16.8 million passengers and three.6 million 20-foot equal models (TEUs) of containers in 2014.

COSCO has been working one of many port’s container terminals since 2009 and is investing 230 million euros to construct a second container terminal on the port.

($1 = 0.8804 euros) (Additional reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Jane Merriman)

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