Longshore workers at Greece’s largest seaport walked off the job on Friday, shutting down container terminals, and marched in central Athens in protest against the government sale of Piraeus Port to China COSCO.
Container terminals at Piraeus Port in Greece were shut down on Friday as longshore workers walked off the job in protest against the government’s sale of the port to China COSCO.
Officials with the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) met with China COSCO Shipping Corp. executives to officially sign the privatization agreement earlier in the day. Under the terms of the deal, COSCO will acquire a 67 percent share in the Piraeus Port Authority for a total consideration of 368.5 million euros (U.S. $421.58 million).
COSCO will purchase 51 percent of the port for 280.5 million euros and the remaining 16 percent for 88 million euros after five years and a mandatory investment of 350 million over the next 10 years. HRADF put the total value of the contract at 1.5 billion euros, including the additional investment, 410 million euros in revenues, as well as dividends and interest Greece expects to collect under the 36-year concession.
“With this development, a particularly important milestone of the privatization program is attained with great success and in line with Hellenic Republic’s commitments,” HRADF said in a statement.
Dockworkers at Piraeus, Greece’s largest seaport and a major hub for COSCO’s Mediterranean container shipping business, fear the deal will put their jobs at risk, according to a report from Reuters news service.
“This is not a concession, it’s a giveaway of property belonging to the Greek people,” port worker Constantinos Tsourakis told Reuters. “Why should China be masters of the game at Piraeus and not the Greek state?”
China COSCO Chairman Xu Lirong, who was present at the signing, reportedly likened the sale to the mythical Argo, the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts.
“Let the ship sail and bring the Golden Fleece,” said Xu, adding that COSCO would invest in upgrading infrastructure at the port and create new jobs in the area.
“China COSCO Shipping…will continue to be committed to Greek growth in the long-term,” he said.
The share purchase agreement still requires regulatory sign off from the Hellenic Competition Commission, but officials say they expect the deal to be ratified by the Greek parliament and completed by June.
COSCO’s terminal operator arm, COSCO Pacific, has been operating one of the port’s container terminals since 2009 and the company is investing 230 million euros to build a second container terminal at the port.
A total of 13 regularly scheduled region-to-region liner services call at Piraeus, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting. Of those loops, five are operated by the CKYHE Alliance, of which COSOCO is a member along with “K” Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin, and Evergreen Line, between Asia and the Mediterranean: the NE7, NE2, MD1/PM1, MD2 and FEM.
In addition, China Shipping (CSCL), which recently merged its operations with those of COSCO at the behest of the Chinese government, is a member of the Ocean3 Alliance, which calls the port on its Asia-Mediterranean BEX loop.
COSCO also purchases slots on ZIM’s ZCA service between the Mediterranean and United States East Coast, which also calls at Piraeus.
Dockworkers protest sale of Piraeus Port to COSCO
