CHINA's Cosco Pacific's Athens-area Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) handled 1.6 million TEU in the year to end-September, 200,000 TEU, surpassing the 1.4 million TEU annual target and representing a 96 per cent year-on-year increase.

According to Cosco Pacific statistics, PCT handled 171,000 TEU in September alone, which was 77.4 per cent more than in the same month in 2011. PCT officials estimate that by the end of December, about 2.1 million TEU will have passed through Dock II, slightly more than the original target of two million TEU for the whole year, the Athens-based Ekathimerini.com reported.

 The officials stressed that Piraeus remains the most dynamic container terminal for the Chinese company in Europe and the Mediterranean, as in the first nine months of 2012, out of the terminals that Cosco controls, Piraeus registered an annual increase of 96 per cent, while Naples posted a 19.1 per cent rise, Antwerp an 11.6 per cent decline, and Suez a 9.5 per cent drop in container handling.

 "It is obvious that Cosco is directing more and more of its cargo toward Piraeus, and Dock II in particular, which it controls 100 percent, illustrating how significant the port of Piraeus is for its strategic plans," an unnamed source from the International Maritime Union (IMU) said.

 The same source added that: "The reduction of bureaucracy, the competitive rates, the high productivity, as well as the certainty you feel when bringing cargo to Dock II, have contributed in our great majority choosing the Chinese, as we know we will not come up against any unforeseeable circumstances that will cause problems in the proper handling of containers."

 Through its parent company Cosco, PCT has planned significant investments for the further modernisation of Dock II, as well as the faster completion of construction work for Dock III, so that once both docks start operating simultaneously the number of boxes handled could reach 3.7 million TEU per year.

 The schedule is for Dock III to become fully operational by 2015 and a statement from Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) recently confirmed that "the projects are being carried out within the contractual dates".

 In line with the expansion and improvement of services offered at PCT, it has begun building ultramodern logistics facilities covering an area of 7,000 square metres, including a facility measuring 5,200 square metres for the storage of dry-cargo loads. There will also be another facility measuring 620 square metres, which will be used for the storage of cargo requiring deep-freeze or refrigeration.

(Source:seatrade asia online)