Chinese President Hu Jintao vowed to increase maritime investment in Greece after the signing of a US$4.4 billion deal to run the country's largest port, despite protests from dockers, Reuters reported.
Hu and Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis witnessed the signing of the contract by state-controlled China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco) to operate the container port of Piraeus (OLP) for 35 years, part of Greece's privatisation agenda.
Greece controls one fifth of the world's merchant fleet. Its ship owners have profited from a huge boom in demand for iron ore, oil and grain from China in recent years, and they are the largest clients for Chinese shipbuilding yards.
Until a collapse in freight rates earlier this year, the boom helped Greece's economy grow by 4 percent a year for a decade.
The Chinese company has insisted that it will create 1,000 new jobs at the port for Greek workers and more than double its capacity by 2015.
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