Port of Thessaloniki

When sell-off fund TAIPED elected the consortium of Deutsche Invest Equity Partners, Belterra Investments and Terminal Link as the preferred bidder for the privatization of Thessaloniki Port Authority (OLTH) at the end of June, the bidder's officials professed their readiness to take over the management of the country's second largest port.

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).

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.

Greece's potential to become an international trade hub remains untapped, as despite the spectacular performance of the port of Piraeus in recent years in terms of container transit, and to a lesser extent the port of Thessaloniki, there is a shortage of infrastructure for combined transport, such as major highways and a modern rail network, according to a study published yesterday.

The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) announced that the dates for tenders that concern the sale of majority stakes in Piraeus Port (OLP) and the Port of Thessaloniki (OLTH) are to be announced over the next two days.

Piraeus Container Terminal SA, a subsidiary of Chinese company Cosco Pacific which manages the container terminal facilities and operations at Piraeus port, achieved a 22 percent profit increase in the first half of the year, the parent company announced on Tuesday.