Chinese management has nearly tripled the amount of cargo traffic at the Port of Piraeus in Greece, provided work for Greek construction companies, revenue and taxes for the government, and employment for Greek citizens in a country hobbled by a 24 percent unemployment rate.
A feature in today's New York Times highlights the dramatic effects privatization can have on the infamously economically troubled country's state-owned businesses.
Following a series of strikes in the years leading up to 2010, the Greek government leased half of the Aegean port to the Chinese-owned shipping company, Cosco, for 500 million euros or about $647 million. Under the direction of Captain Fu Cheng Qui, the port's cargo volume has nearly doubled in the past year to 1.05 million containers, the Times reported.
The other half of the Port of Piraeus, still Greek-owned and primarily a passenger port, is lagging behind.
"At the beginning, the Greeks were worried that the Chinese would come in here and take over," Captain Fu told the Times. "Instead, we showed the local people that we want to help them develop; we don't want to take work from them and give it to the Chinese."
Cosco hired seven Chinese managers to train the Greek workforce, which it increased from 800 to 1,000 employees, the Times reported.
The trade-off is in salary reductions and job protection rules -- there are no unions and no collective bargaining for Cosco workers. In August 2011, Cosco, which stands for China Ocean and Shipping Co., was fined 3,000 euros after dockworkers were found working on days they were supposed to have off, NPR reported last August.
Although profits for the Cosco port are "razor thin" at $6.47 million last year, that's primarily because Cosco is putting $388 million into the port's modernization. The goal is to increase its capacity to handle up to 3.7 million containers in 2013 making it one of the ten largest ports in the world, said the Times.
The Port of Piraeus is Greek's largest seaport and one of Europe's top ten.
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