Piraeus Port Authority, which runs the largest container terminal in the Mediterranean Sea, is expected to update its performance record for the third straight year this year, according to its Chinese owner.
PPA, which runs the Port of Piraeus, is expected to set another performance record after 2022 and 2021, China COSCO Shipping Corporation announced on its website recently.
Shanghai-based COSCO won a 35-year concession to manage two container terminals at the main port of Greece in 2008. In 2016, it acquired a 67 percent stake in PPA.
The largest passenger port in Europe that used to be unprofitable has turned around under new management. “PPA’s fantastic financial performance not only impacts the firm’s profitability, but the whole Greece economy,” Savvas Sanozidis, secretary of the board, said in a recent interview with Yicai.
Last year, PPA’s pre-tax revenue rose to an all-time high of almost EUR75 million (USD79.3 million), the secretary said. Dividends surged to the highest ever, rising by nearly 65 percent to nearly EUR26 million, a 13-fold increase from a period before the acquisition by the Chinese logistics giant.
PPA contributed over EUR70 million to Greece’s national tax income and social security fund. Moreover, almost 1.6 percent of Greece’s gross domestic product came from the port operator, according to research findings.
Many large electronics manufacturers such as Huawei Technologies, Sony Group Corporation, and HP tend to use the port to track goods due to its links to European railways, Sanozidis said, adding that the China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line, which combines sea and land transportation, can make the journey to European cities up to 10 days shorter compared to the conventional maritime route passing through the Strait of Gibraltar.
As of last year, COSCO has directly created about 4,000 local jobs and indirectly helped establish over 10,000 new positions, according to Capt. Jin Beiyuan, deputy chief executive of PPA.
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