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Greek port handles 3.16 million in 2013 to climb box rankings
Greece’s Piraeus Port has become the third largest port in the Mediterranean in terms of container volumes after an unprecedented rise in annual box traffic.
According to local media reports, as many as 3.16 million TEU passed through the Greek port’s docks during the 2013 calendar year.
Following a 77 percent rise in container traffic during 2012, Piraeus Container Terminal (SEP), a subsidiary of China’s Cosco, posted a further 20 percent rise last year moving 2.52 million TEU at terminals II and III. The Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) handled 644,000 TEU at terminal I, representing an increase of three percent year-over-year.
COSCO, who took over managerial responsibilities at the port in 2008, announced in September last year that it will spend a total of €230 million to increase the cargo handling capacity at the western section of Terminal III. This will increase the capacity of Greece’s largest port by as much as two thirds to 6.2 million TEU over the next seven years, making Piraeus the largest port in the Mediterranean.
In 2012 Piraeus was ranked the fourth largest port in the Med in terms of container volumes, with the Spanish Port of Valencia at the top having handled 4.46 million TEU.
