Cosco Group

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has praised his country's "win-win cooperation" with China as he renews efforts to rebuild the country.
He made the remarks on Saturday at the opening ceremony of the 84th Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), the country's largest annual commercial exhibition.

Lawmakers have approved the sale of a 67 percent stake of the Thessaloniki Port Authority in Greece's second largest city, in a deal worth 232 million euros ($285 million).

Parliament ratified the concession agreement through 2051 which was signed in December with the consortium South Europe Gateway Thessaloniki.

Four bids are expected to be tabled this week for the 67 percent stake in Thessaloniki Port Authority, Kathimerini understands.

The deadline of the tender - which has been going on since the summer of 2014 - is this Friday at 7 p.m. and the binding bids will be tabled at Morgan Stanley in London.

Greek port representatives and cruise operators presented ambitious and detailed plans to large and small cruise company representatives in dozens of one-to-one meetings at a global fair in Florida in the United States last week. What's more, this is in a year when cruise ship calls are set to drop 30 percent in Greece, along with a 10-15 percent drop in passengers.

With 16.54 million passengers in 2015, Piraeus is the biggest coastal shipping port among 69 organized ports in the Mediterranean, according to data compiled by MedCruise, while the new management of Piraeus Port Authority (OLP), controlled by the Cosco Group since last year, is preparing to add to its real estate as a part of its general upgrading plan.

Cosco Group announced on Wednesday a 2.8 percent increase in the number of containers handled by its subsidiary in Piraeus (Piraeus Container Terminal) in the first couple of months this year from the same period in 2016. The total number of containers handled came to 546,600, against 531,700 last year.

Greece has asked three firms to submit binding bids by September for a majority stake in the country's biggest port, Piraeus (OLPr.AT), a senior privatization official told Reuters on Thursday, unblocking a major asset sale.

Greece should reach a deal with its eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund next week on a package of reforms, which will help to unlock remaining bailout funds, the country's economy minister said on Wednesday.