Ships are docked at Piraeus port in Athens, Greece on Feb. 17, 2016. The Greek privatization fund announced on Wednesday that China's COSCO was formally declared the preferred investor for the privatization of Greece's largest port, Piraeus. (Xinhua Photo)
by Liu Yongqiu, Chen Zhanjie
ATHENS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Some 10 km southwest of the Greek capital Athens, Piraeus began another one of its usual days Wednesday with gigantic mechanical arms grabbing containers one by one -- a common sight for freighters awaiting entry to discharge.
The international financial crisis and the Greek debt crisis seem to have cast no shadow over the Mediterranean port. Its cargoes loaded and unloaded totaled 3.36 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) last year compared to 880,000 TEUs in 2010.
The port is now ranked 39th globally up from 93rd in 2010 in terms of container capacity, thanks to the China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited;it can be considered a rising star partly due to its convenient geographic location, thanks to China's Belt and Road Initiative.
"As a typical project under the Initiative, the COSCO-run Piraeus program has worked well in dovetailing with the local development, with infrastructure construction, trade, investment and policy dialogue involved," Chinese Ambassador to Greece Zou Xiaoli told Xinhua.
A contractor since October 2010 of Pier II and III of Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) for a span of 35 years and an investor in their expansion, COSCO Shipping is now closer to an ownership of the port with a 67-percent stake under a privatization deal worth 368.5 million euros (409 million U.S. dollars) sealed earlier this year with Greece.
COSCO Shipping's success is expected to be furthered by expanded business after taking over Greece's biggest port. Meanwhile, its contribution to the survival of the previously crisis-stricken port will facilitate the role to be played by the latter in China's Belt and Road Initiative.
Piraeus is expected to operate as a key port and stop in Europe for the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, and to connect the Silk Road Economic Belt with the China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line, boosting economic growth in regions the Initiative involves.
Chairman of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) Stergios Pitsiorlas, who signed the Piraeus privatization deal, called this a win-win program, and Athens regards this move as a strong sign that Greece's economy is recovering.
In his opinion, Piraeus thus has the opportunity to develop into one of the biggest ports in Europe by partly serving as a gateway for Asian products to enter European markets.
The COSCO-run Piraeus project has so far contributed 500 million euros (555 million dollars) in tax and personal income to Greece's economy and has created more than 2,000 jobs for local residents.
Regarding the ongoing expansion of PCT Pier III, "We have prepared berths deep enough for meeting the demands of a rapidly developing container shipping industry," said Zhang Anming, deputy general manager of COSCO Shipping's subsidiary PCT at Piraeus, standing near one of the dark blue bridge cranes that tower in rows above the port.
He takes pride in the COSCO management of Piraeus and a COSCO vision for the port's future. The plan includes turning Piraeus into the biggest transit port as well as an important logistics center in the Mediterranean.
In turn, it is expected to create thousands of more jobs and benefit an estimated population of over 250,000 locally and in surrounding areas.
This will help strengthen the human element in the Belt and Road Initiative, with the Piraeus port serving as a bridge to connect the peoples of Greece and China, said Ambassador Zou.
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