By A. Tsiblakis
A team of Cosco executives is currently evaluating all of the Piraeus Port Authority’s (OLP) operations, on a day-to-day basis, in order for the Chinese multinational to be ready to assume OLP’s management within the month.
According to reports, the tight-lipped evaluation team, comprised of a total of four company officials, has overseen most of the activities at the port, although the lack of any feedback with the local workforce has heightened insecurity among the local staff.
Sources told “N” that the Chinese delegation had previously demanded the evacuation of thousands of Mideast war refugees and assorted other third world nationals from the passenger terminal, something that was only achieved last week.
The Chinese delegation also reportedly cited deficient security at the expansive site, given that thousands of trucks and tens of thousands of travelers pass through its gates on a daily basis in the summer. Additionally, the current road network leading to and from the port was judged as insufficient and in need of upgrades. Lesser concerns apparently referred to the prospects of demolishing a large but abandoned silo at the port entrance and transferring a ship museum elsewhere.
On a more serious note, dozens of court cases and legal challenges involving OLP raised the Chinese side’s concerns, sources told “N”, whereas immediate ground-levelling works are deemed necessary for the container port.
Other “open issues” are demands by municipalities bordering OLP for off-set benefits or remittances from the port’s operation, and finally, modernizing OLP’s organization chart, which the Chinese side has reportedly found outdated.
On the plus side, the Cosco evaluation team has reportedly given high marks to the majority of employees, from top management to the blue collar level.
Cosco is also reportedly is eager to better exploit the ship-repair zone at the port, as one of the goals of the state-run and Shanghai-based multinational, when it won the tender for OLP, was to turn Piraeus into the biggest ship-building and repair zone in the Mediterranean.
