OLP ponders shipbuilding resumption
Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) chief executive Fu Chengqiu referred on Friday to the prospect of shipbuilding resuming in Piraeus as well as elsewhere in Greece, in the context of a joint visit with cabinet members to the Perama Ship Repair Zone.
Fu revealed that Cosco – the majority stakeholder in OLP – intends not only to revitalize and develop the ship repair industry in Greece, but also shipbuilding, although he made it clear that this would be a second step in the process.
The OLP chief executive was visiting the Perama Ship Repair Zone with government officials upon the completion of maintenance works on its docks and ahead of the arrival of a new big floating dock in November.
OLP now boasts two floating and two fixed docks that are fully modernized. It is hoped that with the arrival of the new floating dock, which weighs 80,000 tons and is 240 meters long, the country’s large ferries will no longer have to travel to Turkey for their annual maintenance.
Friday’s meeting of the OLP management with Shipping Minister Panayiotis Kouroublis and Deputy Economy Minister Stergios Pitsiorlas, in the presence of shipping associations, was aimed at promoting the installation upgrade and the government’s efforts to create jobs.
