GREECE’s second-largest port has launched an expansion that will double the capacity of its container terminal, as power politics between the US and China envelopes the country’s main gateway.
Thessaloniki, strategically located in the north of Greece adjacent to Balkan, Eastern European and Central European markets and logistics routes, this week inked a contract with Greek construction consortium Metka-Tekal for the expansion of the port’s Pier 6.
With a budget of €225.7m, the project is expected to take more than three years and will include dredging the navigation channel as well as hugely extending the area of the terminal.
The works will more than double annual capacity from 650,000 teu today to 1.5m teu per year and enable Thessaloniki to cater to ultra large container vessels of up to 24,000 teu capacity.
The project is the largest expansion in the port’s history, according to the port authority.
The project’s launch comes as the US and China exchange tense words over control of Piraeus, the country’s largest port, that has been dominated by Chinese interests since Cosco won a 2008 tender to operate the largest part of the port’s container terminal under a long-term concession.
Subsequently, in 2016, Cosco took majority control of the port authority after winning a public privatisation tender and later lifted its stake to 67%.
Washington’s new ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, last week branded Cosco’s involvement in Piraeus as “unfortunate”, suggesting that the port be put up for sale to new owners or else that other locations could be beefed up to offset it.
The first reactions from Greek officials suggested that Athens is unlikely to backtrack on its agreement with Cosco, but is more interested in development of further port facilities to act as a counterweight that might be welcomed by the US.
One proposal already on the table is to allow Onex, a Greek-American controlled industrial group that already operates two Greek shipyards, to extend its Onex Elefsis Shipyards just along the coast from Piraeus to also act as a port.
The intensified focus on Greek ports takes place against global jockeying between the US and China in numerous fields.
It also comes amid an apparent strengthening of the bonds between the US and Greece, especially in the energy sector.
Almost in the same breath as her remarks about Piraeus, Guilfoyle underlined that the US views Greece as an important energy hub, particularly as a regional gateway for US LNG.
Athens has just inked a deal to import 700m cu m of LNG annually for 20 years, from 2030 onwards.
US oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron have both signed deals this year for gas exploration offshore Greece as the Trump administration aims to take advantage of Europe’s move away from Russian gas supplies.
