October 30, 2022 - In Piraeus, majority shares in the port were sold to Cosco: its initial 51% was later increased to 67%. The Chinese shipping company can therefore decide the future of the port. Cosco controls all the piers, and all the terminals.

On 8 April 2016, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) formally signed an agreement to sell a 67 percent stake in the Port of Piraeus to the Chinese shipping company, China Cosco Holding Co.The total value of the agreement amounts to EUR 1.5 billion.

December 9, 2021 - PIRAEUS, Greece -- "They sold this place to China and Russia," screamed the graffiti on a road along the Port of Piraeus, about a 20-minute drive from Athens.

April 8, 2016 - Greece has sealed the sale of its biggest port, Piraeus, to COSCO, the state controlled China Ocean Shipping Company, marking the second major privatization for the country since 2015.

March 15, 2022 - The decision blocks the expansion of the passenger port of Piraeus and the building of a new passenger terminal as envisaged by an agreement granting a concession to develop the port of Piraeus to Chinese company Cosco Group Limited.

June 5, 2023 - Abstract This article analyzes the effects of the acquisition of the Port of Piraeus by the Chinese shipping operator COSCO in July 2016 on the organization of container traffic in Europe. Using re...

August 5, 2019 - Situated at the edge of Athens—a short sail from the Middle East and Africa—the port has been a strategic jewel for nearly 2,500 years, ever since the Athenians and Spartans defeated the Persian emperor in a nearby sea battle for Mediterranean supremacy. But as the crowd in the square knew, Tsipras’s own government had sold off Piraeus, years earlier, to a modern-day empire intent on expanding its own power: China. When Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled the ambitious vision he called the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, in 2013, he had commerce, not conquest, in mind.

October 10, 2024 - The presence of China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) in the Port of Piraeus has become a focal point for discussions of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), feeding either alarmist or complacent narratives about the BRI’s impact. Yet, beneath grand geopolitical considerations lies a complex and nuanced reality of local–global interactions that have a lasting impact on the ways that communities experience Chinese investment and the many controversies surrounding the deal itself.

April 8, 2016 - The deal was signed in a ceremony at the port attended by Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and Cosco's chairman Xu Lirong on Friday afternoon. In a statement, law firm Paul Hastings, one of the advisors on the deal said: "This marks one of the most high profile Greek privatizations of recent years and successful execution of the deal is a key part of the plan to turn Piraeus into a logistics hub for Chinese exports to Europe."

November 2, 2023 - This was done most effectively by allowing China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) to purchase a majority stake in the port of Piraeus. What had started as a demand by the European institutions that Greek public assets be privatized in a ‘fire ...

August 30, 2023 - ATHENS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Since China's COSCO Shipping bought into Greece's largest but ailing Port of Piraeus 13 years ago, the harbor has experienced rapid growth and has been transformed into a bustling key transport hub at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa.

November 15, 2019 - In 2016, China's shipping firm Cosco purchased a majority stake in Piraeus port. Situated in the Saronic Gulf, Greece's largest harbor — and Europe's seventh biggest — is at a strategic location between the Asian and European continents.

October 15, 2025 - The Port of Piraeus (Greek: ... the largest port in Greece and one of the largest in Europe. The Chinese state-owned COSCO Shipping operates the port....

January 30, 2024 - The Chinese group COSCO Shipping owns two-thirds of the port of authority of Piraeus, the 14th-largest port in Europe (with millions of metric tons in freight handled, according to Eurostat), which specializes in handling large containers and ...

July 8, 2025 - SASAC’s growing role in European ports presents a security risk for the Union, Gunter believes. The takeover of Piraeus isn’t necessarily a concern in isolation, he said, but the problem lies in the potential influence of the Chinese acquisitions together: supply chains can become vulnerable and member states grow increasingly dependent on foreign money, making them more susceptible to political influence.

May 28, 2021 - Chinese shipping group COSCO hopes to reach a deal with the Greek government to complete the purchase of an extra stake in Piraeus, despite running out of time to fulfil a key condition, a top official at the port said.

China now owns 60% of Greece's shipping port, Piraeus and it is already evident that some entities are benefitting more from the investment than others.

September 17, 2025 - The United States government has launched a comprehensive strategy aimed at reducing China’s presence in world-class ports. The port of Piraeus, which has been granted to COSCO, is in the spotlight.

March 23, 2022 - The China Ocean Shipping Company, commonly known as Cosco, has a majority ownership in the Piraeus Port Authority (PPA).

September 30, 2025 - The port of Piraeus, which in 2024 handled 4.2 millon teu, has become the entry port of choice for the illicit trade, according to EPPO. A network of professional enablers at the port facilitates the entry of the goods into EU markets through ...