Piraeus concession starts for COSCO Pacific

Piraeus concession starts for COSCO Pacific    COSCO Pacific said Thursday its 30-year concession to run a container terminal in the Greek port of Piraeus has officially begun.
   The terminal is the first wholly owned foreign facility for the Hong Kong-listed terminal operator, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Ocean Shipping Co. COSCO Pacific has stakes in terminals in Singapore, Antwerp and Egypt, as well as 17 terminals in China.
   Under terms of the Piraeus concession, which is extendable by five years, COSCO Pacific will upgrade the capacity at an existing terminal from 1.6 million TEUs to 2.6 million TEUs by 2014. It will also construct a new 1.1 million-TEU terminal by 2015, giving a total capacity of 3.7 million TEUs.
   “It is the gateway port of the Attica region, including the capital city of Athens, the wealthiest region in Greece, accounting for about 50 percent of total GDP of the country,' the terminal operator said in a statement. 'It is estimated that 80 percent of the Greek imports are destined for Attica. Furthermore, its proximity to important gateway ports, such as ports in Turkey and Black Sea, increases its attractiveness as a transshipment hub in the eastern Mediterranean.'