ATHENS: Located about 10 km southwest of Athens, Greece, Piraeus Port is a vital gateway connecting Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Designed by architect Hippodamus of Miletus in the fifth century BC, Piraeus has long been one of the most prosperous ports in Greece and Europe.
Historically, Chinese silk was transported by the Scythians via sea to Piraeus during its peak, before being sold throughout Greece. However, the global financial crisis over a decade ago plunged the port into its “darkest hour”.
Shadowed by pay cuts and unemployment, the port suffered from strikes, blockades and sabotage.
Equipment was left unmaintained, container yards fell into chaos and trucks jammed the port entrance for up to five km. Shipowners abandoned the port, and clients were almost entirely lost.
The turning point came in 2016 when China Cosco Shipping Corp (Cosco) took over the port’s operations.
At the time, the annual container throughput of the port was approximately 680,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), ranking 93rd globally with outdated facilities and limited capacity.
Today, it has become one of the busiest ports in the Mediterranean, with annual throughput exceeding 5.6 million TEUs, ranking as high as 25th globally.
Cosco issued a letter to employees, promising that the Chinese management team would not take a single blade of grass or stone from the port.
They pledged that the port’s past, present and future belong to the Greek people, with no more than seven Chinese nationals on the management team, leaving all other positions to Greek employees.
The management delivered on their promises. They worked alongside local employees to expand the international market, increase transit cargo and take the lead in repairing ageing facilities.
To improve working conditions, the company provided free lunches and allowed employees to manage the canteen.
Embracing a shared “family” culture similar to both Chinese and Greek traditions, they invited workers to new year parties and awarded scholarships to employees’ children, transforming initial doubts into trust and a powerful synergy for development.
“They are not here to steal our jobs; instead, they have created more employment opportunities,” said Tassos, the company’s commercial manager who has worked at the port since he was 16.
“In less than half a year, Piraeus Port began to achieve consecutive monthly profits. They did what we had wanted to do for years but couldn’t.”
Nikolaos, manager of the claims department, quoted a Greek proverb, “From the soil of wisdom grow three green shoots: good thoughts, good words, good actions.”
He said Cosco perfectly combined Eastern wisdom with Greek culture, respecting and safeguarding the locals’ millennia-old attachment to the port with advanced concepts, effective communication and solid actions.
Piraeus Port has now become the fourth-largest container port, the second-largest cruise home port and the largest ferry port in Europe, as well as an important roll-on and roll-off automobile hub and ship repair centre in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“These 10 years mark the decade in which the port of Piraeus moved from being a corner of the Mediterranean to a global hub,” said Han Chao, chairman of Piraeus Port Authority SA.
The development path of the port is also quietly transforming.
Stepping into the office building of the container terminal, one can see large screens displaying vessel dynamics, operational progress and equipment status in real time.
According to Han, the port has built a digital monitoring platform covering the entire port area and introduced 5G and artificial intelligence technologies, driving its organisation to evolve from “manual planning” to “intelligent coordination”.
In terms of energy, photovoltaic systems have begun supplying power to parts of the port.
Shore power facilities are also being planned to allow docked ships to cut emissions, further increasing the port’s share of green energy. — China Daily/ANN
