Thousands of containers sat unmoved Oct. 9 in Piraeus as dockworkers staged a ninth day of rolling strikes in a bid to pressure the new government to revisit an agreement with China's Cosco Pacific to run container operations at Greece's biggest port.
Vessels are diverting to other Mediterranean ports as dockworkers prepare to prolong their stoppage into the weekend.
The strike began on Oct. 1 to coincide with the start of Cosco's 30 year concession to develop and operate two of the port's three container berths.
The Pasok socialist party, which won last Sunday's general election, is being pushed to honor its pre-election pledge to review the Cosco agreement after unions alleged it would infringe their employment rights and result in job losses.
The dockworkers union has vowed to continue the strike and prevent Cosco from operating in the port until its concerns are addressed.
The strikes, combined with falling trade, squeezed container traffic to 431,000 20-foot equivalent units in 2008 from 1.4 million TEUs in the previous year.
Cosco Pacific, the world's fifth largest terminal operator, edged out rivals with a winning $5 billion bid for the concession and a pledge to invest an additional $300 million to revamp facilities and boost annual capacity to 3.7 million TEUs.
The Journal of Commerce Online
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