Ferry Shipping News visited Port of Piraeus a few weeks ago and met with Theodora Riga, Strategic Planning and Marketing Manager of the port. We talked about the passenger and ferry traffic. With 15.5 million passengers per year, Piraeus has Europe’s biggest passenger volumes.

Mrs Riga explained about the coastal ferry traffic.

Coastal ferry shipping is mainly influenced by the economic situation in Greece. That affects the movement of passengers and cargo to and from the islands, and to a lesser but growing extent, by the volume of tourists.

Passenger traffic between Piraeus and the islands is also affected by the intensity of competition between low-cost airlines and ships. For the period 2018-2021, an average economic growth rate of 2.4% is forecasted. That will help to maintain passenger and cargo flows for the islands.

The arrivals of tourists for 2017 is estimated at 28.5 million, and is expected to reach 30 million in 2018, with a positive effect on the port traffic.

On the other hand, the privatization of island airports, in the long run, could increase direct charter flights to the islands, thus reducing tourists visiting the islands through Piraeus.

The upward trend in oil prices, after the low prices recorded in November 2016, could reduce the competitiveness of the ship over the airplane and hence the volumes of traffic to the islands.

Based on the above in the medium term, the growth in passenger traffic is projected to be marginal.

Ro-Ro Car Terminal

Demand for transhipment of vehicles in the Eastern Mediterranean, Black Sea and North Africa put Piraeus port at the centre of the car trade. The list of port customers includes the major car carriers’ operators as well as all of the major car manufacturers.

The implementation of the investment plan concerning the expansion of the Ro-Ro Terminal facilities will result in a significant increase of its productive capacity and will allow large-scale agreements with customers and will lead to the further upscale of its global footprint.

  • One of the largest car transhipment centres in the East Mediterranean.
  • Two terminals with a total area of approximately 191,000 m2 and a total berth length of 1.5 km long.
  • Five berths with a maximum draft of 11m.
  • Ability to forward transit cars through the rail connection.
  • Free congestion terminal – berth on arrival.
  • Total annual handling capacity of about 600,000 vehicles.

Investments

The port will during the coming years invest many millions to develop and modernize all areas and activities in the port.

Published 15 February 2019