Piraeus port container traffic increased 28% last year

Piraeus Port Authority SA (PPA), which operates Greece’s biggest port, said the number of containers handled at its Pier I facility increased almost 28 percent in 2012, Bloomberg reports.

The pier handled 625,914 20-foot-equivalent units, up from 490,904 in 2011, while container storage space at the pier rose 12 percent, the authority said in a statement on its website.

Greece may sell a stake in Piraeus Port as part of a program of state asset sales. The harbor’s Pier II is run by Piraeus Container Terminal SA, a unit of Cosco Pacific Ltd. (1199), which will also build a third pier.