There has been a new call for Greece to speed up the privatisation of container handling operations in Piraeus and other ports.
“It is a reality that state-run businesses are ineffective,” said George Gratsos, president of Hellenic Chamber of Shipping in a recently published open letter.
“The current performance of Piraeus and other ports, despite their improvement, is not sufficient to ensure the rapid developments necessary to make Greek ports a transhipment hub.”
There have been repeated calls for a reform of Greek ports, some coming from bunker players.
Container throughput in Piraeus declined in 2004 and 2005.
The government hoped to reverse the trend, in part by privatising the terminal operations, but unions opposed the moves.
An eight-week long period of industrial unrest at the end of last year left container through put in Piraeus in 2006 at 1.39 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs), barely more than in 2005.
In the first quarter of this year, Piraeus handled around 275,000 TEUs, 17% down compared with the first three months of 2006.
Reports said shipping companies were hesitant to commit to Piraeus while the privatisation scheme was still in doubt.
Speaking at Bunkerworld internal bunker forum in Athens this month, one leading player said the volume of bunker fuel supplied in Greek ports was also falling year-on-year.
Christopher Tzouvanakis, Chairman of the Vestalco Group, said there were signs that decline could be reversed. In particular he mentioned moves towards privatising port operations to increase efficiency.
“It is a reality that state-run businesses are ineffective,” said George Gratsos, president of Hellenic Chamber of Shipping in a recently published open letter.
“The current performance of Piraeus and other ports, despite their improvement, is not sufficient to ensure the rapid developments necessary to make Greek ports a transhipment hub.”
There have been repeated calls for a reform of Greek ports, some coming from bunker players.
Container throughput in Piraeus declined in 2004 and 2005.
The government hoped to reverse the trend, in part by privatising the terminal operations, but unions opposed the moves.
An eight-week long period of industrial unrest at the end of last year left container through put in Piraeus in 2006 at 1.39 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs), barely more than in 2005.
In the first quarter of this year, Piraeus handled around 275,000 TEUs, 17% down compared with the first three months of 2006.
Reports said shipping companies were hesitant to commit to Piraeus while the privatisation scheme was still in doubt.
Speaking at Bunkerworld internal bunker forum in Athens this month, one leading player said the volume of bunker fuel supplied in Greek ports was also falling year-on-year.
Christopher Tzouvanakis, Chairman of the Vestalco Group, said there were signs that decline could be reversed. In particular he mentioned moves towards privatising port operations to increase efficiency.