Piraeus volumes soar after Cosco takeover

The container handling rate at the Greek port of Piraeus has soared this year, with the Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT), a subsidiary of China's giant Cosco Pacific, handling more than 1.6 million containers in the year to end-September, reported ANSAmed.

Throughput was considerably higher than the target of 1.4 million containers and about 96 percent more than the figure in the same period last year.

In September alone, PCT handled 171,000 containers, which was 77.4 percent more than in the same month in 2011.

PCT officials estimate that by the end of December, some 2.1 million TEUs will have passed through port. The original target had been for two million TEUs for the whole year.