As Greece struggles to to pay off its debt, privatisation of the country’s major port Piraeus may be resumed soon. China’s shipping giant COSCO which holds part of the port’s operating permit has high hope of winning the bidding.
CCTV talks to the Greek Finance Minister Vanis Yaroufakis on how investment from China to Piraeus could boost economic growth momentum, especially against the back drop of China’s one-belt-one-road initiative.
The Greek government is ready to discuss the privatisation plan of Piraeus with the Chinese, after an abrupt halt of the deal after the election of the new government in January.
This time, it’s under the influence of Chinas one-belt-one-road initiative which sees Piraeus as an important pivot connecting Asia and Europe.Since Chinese shipping company COSCO took over part of the port’s operation in 2008, 4000 jobs have been created.
Before the Chinese moved in, the port’s freight volume was about 430 thousand containers each year. This number has jumped six fold to over 3 million in 2014.
“We have created many job opportunities since we entered here. We directly employee 13 hundred people. And there are other people who work around the port, such as our suppliers, water vendors, tow trucks, and construction workers,” said Fu Chengqiu, General Manager of COSCO.
“Altogether we created around 4thousand to 5 thousand jobs directly and indirectly. From 2010 to the end of last year, we have paid over 400 million euro worth of taxes to local government.”
According to company reports, COSCO’s Pirareus branch has posted an annual income of 178 million US dollars in 2014, up nearly 15 percent from a year ago.It has also invested 230 million euros to expand the west working area of dock number three at the port.
