Big rise in Cosco’s container handling

The container handling activity of Chinese company Cosco’s local subsidiary in Piraeus posted an impressive 26.7 percent increase in the first half of the year compared with the same period of 2013, the firm announced on Tuesday.

SEP SA added that a total of 1.47 million containers were handled in the year to end-June, against 1.16 million a year earlier. Cosco-operated terminals II and III witnessed an even bigger increase in June alone, reaching up to 29.8 percent over the same month of 2013.

Such data confirm the accelerating growth rate of container handling at the country’s main port, taking Piraeus to eighth position among Europe’s biggest ports, according to figures by Port Monitor. Last year SEP handled a total of 2.51 million containers, recording a 19.5 percent rise from 2012. When one adds the 644,000 containers handled at Terminal I, which is operated by the state’s Piraeus Port Authority (OLP), the sum exceeds 3.15 million containers last year. This is likely to come to 3.7 million this year.

Source: ekathimerini.com