Maersk Ready to Go After Two Largest Greek Ports

Denmark’s A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S will participate in the bidding process for two of the largest Greek ports – Piraeus and Thessaloniki – after the country’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras brought the sale of the ports on the table in today’s bailout proposal, Bloomberg reports.

The Syriza government took office in January partly on the promise to end austerity measures and stop a number of privatisations, including the sale of the state-owned ports.

The previous government led by Antonis Samaras had shortlisted five companies, including Cosco, for a 67% stake in the port of Piraeus, but the sale was scrapped by the newly elected leftist government led by Tsipras.

However, faced with the increasing pressure from the European Union and the International Monetary Fond, the Tsipras-led government today reportedly accepted to meet the majority of demands imposed by creditors, many of which were rejected in the recent referendum, for a EUR 53.5 billion bailout.

The binding bid dates for the two ports will be announced by end-October 2015 the latest, the proposal stated.

If selected, Maersk will operate the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki through its wholly-owned container terminal operator – APM Terminals.

World Maritime News Staff