CMA CGM

The Suez Canal crisis has started to cause significant delays in the smooth supply of the Greek market with durable consumer goods imported from Asia, such as refrigerators, televisions, computers and cars.

A new regular container train service between Thessaloniki and Nis in Serbia has been launched by the Thessaloniki Port Authority-OLTH SA.

Business at Greece's two privatized ports, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, could increase the country's gross domestic product by up to 5.6 billion euros a year, a survey by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) has found. The strategic position of Greece's two main ports is seen as crucial for international trade.

The contractual obligation for investing 180 million euros in Thessaloniki port should be rapidly implemented, the chief executive officer of CMA CGM subsidiary Terminal Link, Boris Wenzel, and the managing director of DIEP, Alexander von Mellenthin, promised in their first formal joint appearance in Greece on Tuesday.

Following a significant delay, state sell-off fund TAIPED announced on Monday that the consortium of Deutsche Invest Equity Partners (DIEP) with the subsidiary of France's CMA CGM, Terminal Link SAS, and Belterra Investments of Ivan Savvidis is the preferred bidder for the concession of a 67 percent stake in Thessaloniki Port Authority (OLTH).

The improved bid of 231.92 million euros sufficed for the consortium of Deutsche Invest Equity Partners (DIEP) with the subsidiary of France's CMA CGM (Terminal Link) and the Savvidis Group (Belterra Investments Ltd) to win the tender for a 67 percent stake in Thessaloniki Port Authority (OLTH).

Four foreign investors are expected to bid for a majority stake in Greece's Thessaloniki Port (OLTH) on Friday, the offer deadline, the port's top executive said on Wednesday.

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.

The interest of the world's third biggest container shipping company in a 67 percent stake in Thessaloniki Port Authority (OLTH) has created fresh momentum in the project.

French firm CMA CGM has agreed to take part in a consortium that will bid for the stake through its Terminal Link subsidiary.

By Nikos Roussanoglou

Another international container shipping company, Taiwan?s Yang Ming Lines, is about to expand its use of the installations of Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT), the local subsidiary of China?s Cosco Pacific. Yang Ming follows the example of MSC, Maersk and Cosco itself, while other firms, such as France?s CMA CGM, occasionally use Piraeus too.