Greece’s Piraeus port vitalized under BRI cooperation

“The children of Piraeus” is a popular ballad in Greece. On May 14, 2017, during the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, Tassos Vamvakidis, the Commercial Manager of the Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) S.A. introduced the ballad to the world in Beijing.

Photo shows an aerial panoramic photo of the Port of Piraeus. (Photo/Global People)

Vamvakidis comes from Piraeus, a seaport city 8 kilometers to the southwest of the Greek capital Athens. As the largest port in Greece, Piraeus has played an extremely important strategic role as the outer port of the city of Athens since ancient times.

Vamvakidis joined the PCT after China’s COSCO Shipping started to manage the port’s container terminals in 2009. Back then, Greece was hit by an economic crisis, and because they were unhappy that the port handed over the operation rights of its No. 2 and No. 3 container terminals to the Chinese company, some local employees had expressed their anger by blocking the doors of their office buildings in addition to participating in strikes. Vamvakidis felt worried and sad about this and, as a result of these developments, he was unable to enter the office building as normally and even had to vacate it from time to time during that period.

Photo shows Tassos Vamvakidis at a meeting. (Photo/Global People)

However, the situation improved quickly thereafter. The Chinese management team proved to be easygoing, easy to communicate with, and faithful. The local employees also realized that the Chinese company had dispatched only six people from China to manage the port, who in the end did not “steal” local people’s jobs but instead helped lead them to create more new job opportunities.

All this helped Vamvakidis to get rid of his negative emotions. In addition, he was impressed by the efficient and pragmatic workstyle of their Chinese colleagues, as well as the transparency and wisdom they demonstrated during communications and management. He shared his feelings with his wife and colleagues, calling on them to stay committed to improving the business volume and management level of the port.

COSCO Shipping has brought warmth to its foreign employees by offering free lunches, inviting the children of its foreign employees at the age of 14 or below to visit the company to spend the Christmas holidays with their parents and presenting many gifts to the children, while rewarding outstanding foreign employees with one week of free travel to China. It also prevented workplace safety hazards in a timely manner in order to build a safe working environment for its employees.

Photo shows Tassos Vamvakidis at the Port of Piraeus. (Photo/Global People)

Thanks to these measures taken by the company, its Greek employees gradually felt a sense of belonging to the company. The port’s prosperous business also gave them a sense of security. In recent years, labor strikes have been common in Greece, but few have taken place here at the Port of Piraeus. Even when some outsiders had occasionally attempted to stir up chaos here, the port’s employees always managed to continue their normal work to ensure the regular operations of the port.

Under the concerted efforts of its Chinese and foreign employees, the port has achieved a leapfrog in its development. The volume of containers handled by the port increased to 5.75 million TEUs in 2019 from 880,000 TEUs in 2009, which propelled the port to rise to the world’s 25th place from its previous 93rd place in the global ranking of major ports. In 2011 and 2012, the growth of the port’s container volume topped the world, and in August 2016, COSCO Shipping completed its acquisition and became the actual sole operator of the port. Nowadays, “COSCO SHIPPING” has become a standard name card for China within the locality.

Photo shows an exterior view of the Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) S.A. (Photo/Global People)

“I’m proud to be a member of COSCO Shipping. As the ‘child’ of Piraeus, the Port of Piraeus, which is a shining star in the Mediterranean, will constantly improve the welfare of the local community and bring hope to them, thus continuing to write a chapter in the development of China-Greece friendly ties and cooperation,” Vamvakidis told Global People.

As a commercial manager of the company, Vamvakidis has also been an outstanding employee of the company multiple times, having also visited China several times as a reward.

Photo shows Tassos Vamvakidis posing for a picture with Xu Lirong, chairman of China COSCO Shipping. (Photo/Global People)