Piraeus and Thessaloniki to become transit centres for Chinese goods

skylinearth · 25th October 2006, 23:03

Quote:

Ethnos: Piraeus and Thessaloniki to become transit centres for Chinese goods

Wednesday, 25 October 2006
Greece and China are seeking to further improve their ties in shipping byturning the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki to become transit centers for Chinese goods intended for the Western markets, Greek newspaper Ethnos reported.

-China has shown interest in the creation of infrastructure, initially at the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki, for its transit goods to the Middle East, Europe, the Black Sea countries etcetera, Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis said.

-There is interest not only from Chinese companies in the creation of infrastructure in Greek ports, but also on the part of Greek shipowners for facilities at Chinese ports, he reported.
In addition, work had begun on resolving minor difficulties between the two sides.
Open tenders would be called for port improvement projects, with financial criteria taken into account, a bidding floor, and guarantees for cargo in transit, Alogoskoufis said.
Accompanying him, Deputy Finance Minister Christos Folias underlined that he saw opportunities for alliances in all sectors.
We proposed backing the creation in the two countries of joint ventures between Greek and Chinese firms, Folias noted.

Minister Alogoskoufis and 50-member business delegation visits China.

http://www.mrt.com.mk/en/index.php?o...1365&Itemid=26

Giorgos · 26th October 2006, 06:34

Very great news! I think China and Greece will eventually be very close and China will likely be Greeces top Allie...just my prediction

MetroGuardian · 26th October 2006, 10:42

Actually, the chinese guy was saying that 50% of the chinese exports are handled by Greek ship owners, as well as 60% of their oil imports.

And those are HUGE numbers

(he also said, that greeks are building 4 new ships in China).

RWC-04 · 26th October 2006, 11:07

eh, it's normal, Greece is world's second biggest transporter after Japan and this is the power of the country.

MetroGuardian · 26th October 2006, 18:47

^ I am not sure your facts are correct. Japan is second after Greece.

Greek ship owners (not always with a greek flag, and not always headquartered in Greece, so not taxed by greek government) own the 18% of the world naval fleet (in terms of cargo capacity).

Top 20 World Merchant Fleets by Country of Owner
http://www.immigration-usa.com/world_fleet.html

And also (ppt)
http://www.cefor.no/news/IUMI/2006%2...e%20Forsmo.ppt
(check slide 10)

and the greek fleet is the first in terms of growth (in actual numbers, not percentage)
http://www.isl.org/products_services...2005-short.pdf

(Germany and China are developing very fast)

And an article from the Economist (through a ... chinese site) about greek shipping companies (around 730 of them!!!, usually small)
http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/Greek-stocks.html

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