COSCO Pacific, a port operator subsidiary of China's state-owned shipping giant China Ocean Shipping Co. (COSCO), has signed a US$4.2 billion deal to take over management of Greece's container port Piraeus.
Cosco has signed a 35-year lease and will spend US$707 million to upgrade port facilities, build a new pier and almost triple the volume of cargo the port can handle, reported China Daily.
The move is part of an effort to create a network of ports, logistics centres and railways to distribute Chinese products across Europe. The Piraeus Port in Athens can currently load and unload 1.8 million containers a year.
By the end of the year China is expected to make a joint bid with a Greek company to create a US$252.2 million logistics hub at Attica, near the port, to distribute goods from China into the Balkans and the rest of the continent. The Chinese are also in talks to buy a share in the struggling state-owned railway in Greece.
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