Port of Piraeus

History

Until the 3rd millennium BC, Piraeus was a rocky island connected to the mainland by a low-lying stretch of land that was flooded with sea water most of the year. It was then that the area was increasingly silted and flooding ceased, thus permanently connecting Piraeus to Attica and forming its ports, the main port of Cantharus and the two smaller of Zea and Munichia. In 2000 , Themistocles initiated the fortifications of Piraeus and later advised the Athenians to take advantage of its natural harbourer harbour of Phaleron and it was transferred to Piraeus, distinguishing itself at the battle of Salamis between the Greek city-states and the Persians in 480 BC. In the following years Themistocles initiated the construction of the port and created the ship sheds (neosoikoi), while the Themistoclean Walls were completed in 471 BC, turning Piraeus into a great military and commercial harbour, which served as the permanent navy base for the mighty Athenian fleet. However, in the late 4th century BC began a long period of decline for Piraeus; the harbours were only occasionally used for the Byzantine fleet and the city was mostly deserted throughout the Ottoman occupation of Greece.

Present

In 2002 PPA and the Greek government signed a concession agreement. Greek leased the port zone lands, buildings and facilities of Piraeus Port to PPA for 40 years. In 2008 the duration of the concession agreement was modified from 40 to 50 years. With this modification the lease is ending in 2052.

Since the Greek government-debt crisis started in late 2009 the Greek government planned to to privatize several state-owned assets. These assets are believed to be worth around 50 billion euros. One of these assets is the port of Piraeus.

In October 2009 Greece leased half of the container port from PPA to the China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (in short: COSCO) for a 35-year-period. For it's prescence at the port COSCO is paying 100 million euros every year.

Terminal 1 is operated by PPA S.A. and has a capacity of nearly 1 million TEUs. Terminal 2's capacity is 3 million TEUs and is run by Piraeus Container Terminal PCT S.A., a subsidiary of COSCO. In 2013, PCT finished the construction of Terminal 3 with a capacity of roughly 2.7 million TEU. The total port capacity is 6.7 m TEUs.

COSCO's involvement was accopanied by protest. According to trade unionists of PPA, the arrival of COSCO led to reductions in salary and social benefits, exclusion of union members and increased pressures on time and performance. According to an interview in 2012 with Harilaos N. Psaraftis, a professor of maritime transport in Athens, in some cases the salaries of workers were $181,000 a year with overtime. Due to union rules a team of nine people was required to work a gantry crane. COSCO pays around $23,300 and does only require four people at a crane.

Economic performance of container handling has greatly improved since 2009. Before COSCO started is engagement the port's container handling record was at 1.5 million TEUs. These figures rose to about 3.58 million TEUs in 2014. In 2015 Piraeus handled 3.32 million TEUs.

As of 10th August 2016 COSCO owns a share of 51 %, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund 23,14 % and other investors 25,86 % of Piraeus Port Authority.

Statistics

As of April 2016 the port ranks 39th globally in terms of container capacity.

In 2007 the Port of Piraeus handled 20,121,916 tonnes of cargo and 1,373,138 TEU's making it the busiest cargo port in Greece and the largest container port in the country and the East Mediterranean Sea Basin.

Container terminal

The container part of the port is made up of three terminals:

The total capacity is hence now standing at 6,7m TEUs.

Cargo terminal

The cargo terminal has a storage area of 180,000 m² and an annual traffic capacity of 25,000,000 tonnes.

Automobile terminal

The Port of Piraeus has three car terminals with a total length of 1.4 km, a land area of 180,000 m², storage capacity of 12,000 cars and a transshipment capacity of 670,000 units per year.

In 2007 the automobile terminal handled 260,605 trucks, 612,840 cars and 9,920 buses.

Passenger terminal

The Port of Piraeus is the largest passenger port in Europe and one of the largest passenger ports in the world with a total traffic of 21,522,917 people in 2007 and 18,635,495 in 2014.

Transportation links

Piraeus station is located next to the Port (37°56′53″N 23°38′35″E), with the southern building the present terminus of Athens Metro Line 1, formerly the Athens-Piraeus Electric Railways that opened in 1869. The northern building is the railway terminus for standard gauge railway services on the main axis to Eidomeni via Larisa and Thessaloniki, and the Proastiakos to Chalcis and Acharnes Junction.

Free shuttle buses inside the Port run from across the Metro Line 1 Terminal Station, around the north side of the port to the ships sailing for Crete, the Eastern Aegean and the Dodecanese. A direct Airport Express bus runs 24/7 between the port and Athens International Airport. Other public buses connect Piraeus with its outlying suburbs, the southern coastal zone and with central Athens.