PUBLIC concern is rising in Europe according to reports from Bonn-based Deutsche Welle that China is assuming control over maritime assets at a time of rising diplomatic tension.
'In Germany, a heated debate has been raging about the Chinese state shipping company Cosco buying a minority stake in a container terminal at the port of Hamburg,' said the report from the German state-owned broadcaster.
'Greece, however, seems to have no such concerns. Since 2011, under pressure from both the debt crisis and the Troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund), the Greek government has sold almost all of the country's important ports and airports to foreign companies,' it said.
Athens also signed a contract with Cosco in 2016 that has allowed the Chinese company to secure a two-thirds majority stake in the Port of Piraeus.
Thus far, the Greek government appears to be satisfied with Cosco's performance at Greece's main port, said the report.
'The Chinese investment in Piraeus is beneficial for both countries,' said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in February 2021, at China's first summit meeting with the 17 Central and Eastern European countries.
Chinese President Xi Jinping described Cosco's investment in Piraeus as an 'exemplary project.' Mr Xi, who inspected the port himself in 2019, sees Piraeus as 'an important hub for China's fast land-sea link with Europe, and for connectivity between Asia and Europe.'
The Chinese have modernised Piraeus. It is now the largest port in the eastern Mediterranean, and the seventh largest in Europe. Jobs are secure, and working conditions no better or worse than anywhere else in Greece.
Cosco operates within the framework of Greek labour law, and is, at least in theory, subject to inspections by the relevant authorities - though these rarely take place.
Nonetheless, unions in Piraeus have repeatedly complained about working conditions, and are pushing for better safety measures after a docker died in an accident on a container pier last year.
Since Cosco bought into Piraeus, the Chinese state-owned company's ships have brought more and more goods to the port, and it has now become one of the most important transshipment hubs in the Mediterranean.
But it does have a negative impact on other transshipment hubs in the south-eastern Mediterranean, which have become less important, and have lost revenue, said Deutsche Welle.
So is Chinese investment in Piraeus a success story? Only if you have no vision or money for a national port policy of your own, says Costas Chlomoudis, a professor of maritime studies at the University of Piraeus.
Most EU countries, he said, will allocate a pier to a private company for a certain number of years, and several competing companies will often share one container terminal.
'In Piraeus, majority shares in the port were sold to Cosco: its initial 51 per cent was later increased to 67 per cent. The Chinese shipping company can therefore decide the future of the port,' said the report.
Cosco controls all the piers, and all the terminals. 'In the way it was carried out, the sale of the Port of Piraeus to Cosco was a tragic mistake,' said Prof Chlomoudis - because, unlike Hamburg, Piraeus is now directly dependent on a third country, namely China.
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'In Germany, a heated debate has been raging about the Chinese state shipping company Cosco buying a minority stake in a container terminal at the port of Hamburg,' said the report from the German state-owned broadcaster.
'Greece, however, seems to have no such concerns. Since 2011, under pressure from both the debt crisis and the Troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund), the Greek government has sold almost all of the country's important ports and airports to foreign companies,' it said.
Athens also signed a contract with Cosco in 2016 that has allowed the Chinese company to secure a two-thirds majority stake in the Port of Piraeus.
Thus far, the Greek government appears to be satisfied with Cosco's performance at Greece's main port, said the report.
'The Chinese investment in Piraeus is beneficial for both countries,' said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in February 2021, at China's first summit meeting with the 17 Central and Eastern European countries.
Chinese President Xi Jinping described Cosco's investment in Piraeus as an 'exemplary project.' Mr Xi, who inspected the port himself in 2019, sees Piraeus as 'an important hub for China's fast land-sea link with Europe, and for connectivity between Asia and Europe.'
The Chinese have modernised Piraeus. It is now the largest port in the eastern Mediterranean, and the seventh largest in Europe. Jobs are secure, and working conditions no better or worse than anywhere else in Greece.
Cosco operates within the framework of Greek labour law, and is, at least in theory, subject to inspections by the relevant authorities - though these rarely take place.
Nonetheless, unions in Piraeus have repeatedly complained about working conditions, and are pushing for better safety measures after a docker died in an accident on a container pier last year.
Since Cosco bought into Piraeus, the Chinese state-owned company's ships have brought more and more goods to the port, and it has now become one of the most important transshipment hubs in the Mediterranean.
But it does have a negative impact on other transshipment hubs in the south-eastern Mediterranean, which have become less important, and have lost revenue, said Deutsche Welle.
So is Chinese investment in Piraeus a success story? Only if you have no vision or money for a national port policy of your own, says Costas Chlomoudis, a professor of maritime studies at the University of Piraeus.
Most EU countries, he said, will allocate a pier to a private company for a certain number of years, and several competing companies will often share one container terminal.
'In Piraeus, majority shares in the port were sold to Cosco: its initial 51 per cent was later increased to 67 per cent. The Chinese shipping company can therefore decide the future of the port,' said the report.
Cosco controls all the piers, and all the terminals. 'In the way it was carried out, the sale of the Port of Piraeus to Cosco was a tragic mistake,' said Prof Chlomoudis - because, unlike Hamburg, Piraeus is now directly dependent on a third country, namely China.
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