The Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) announced that the Greek Committee of Planning and Development of Ports (ESAL) approved investments of € 611.8 million, covering all the business units of the company. This investment paves the way for waterfront improvements at Greece’s main seaport.
Commenting on this development, the Chairman of PPA, Yu Zenggang stated that after a long waiting period, PPA obtained the approval to continue with the implementation of significant investments ‘that will make Piraeus the most important port in the Mediterranean and will create even more new working positions.’
We hope that the competent authorities will soon review the expansion of the Container Terminal as it is one major investment that will establish the Piraeus port as one of the top Container Terminals in Europe
The most recent plan of PPA regards a new cruise ship terminal, a new car terminal and a fourth container terminal. Regarding the latter, it aims to increase the overall TEU capacity from seven million TEU to 10 million TEU port-wide.
However, the Port Planning and Development Committee declined the proposal for the new container terminal, giving approvals however for the other projects.
Justifying why it refused the container terminal, the committee explained that ‘the conditions at this stage are not ripe for the implementation’.
Mr. Yu provided a comment on this, calling the Greek authorities to review the expansion of the container terminal, highlighting that it will be a major investment, able to establish the Piraeus port as one of the top container terminals in Europe.
Cosco acquired a 51% stake in PPA in 2016, while if it invests at least $330 million in the port by 2022, it will be allowed to increase its stake by another 16%.
