PIRAEUS: The total number of containers handled at the port of Piraeus in Greece exceeded all expectations, making Greece’s largest port the fastest growing port in the world for the year 2013.
According to official details Piraeus container terminal last year handled 2.520 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), as containers are known, compared to the 2.4 million expected. With an additional 644,000 TEU handled by the Greek Piraeus Port Authority, total container traffic amounted to 3.163 million TEU. This means that Piraeus is the third largest port in the Mediterranean, along with rapid growth over the last three years and a doubling in size since 2011.
It is estimated that Piraeus will be the busiest container terminal in the Mediterranean by 2016. The proximity of Piraeus to the Suez Canal, which is the European entry point for Asian imports, and its railway which links to the national and European network, saves around six days for goods bound for markets in central Europe, making Piraeus the preferred European port for Asian trade.
