Piraeus Port Authority S.A. (PPA S.A.) was presented with a Special Award on October 6, 2026, at the 9th Infrastructure & Transport Conference (ITC 2026) in Athens, commemorating ten years since COSCO Shipping joined the company’s shareholding structure. The award was received by PPA Chief Executive Officer Su Xudong.
The recognition comes in what the port authority has called a milestone year, with 2026 marking a decade since COSCO Shipping Corp became PPA’s strategic investor. The anniversary is being marked against a backdrop of mixed operational results, as PPA data released earlier in October showed container throughput at Piraeus falling 39 percent in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year.
A Decade of COSCO Investment
COSCO Shipping took a strategic stake in Piraeus Port Authority a decade ago, and the company now holds a 67 percent interest in PPA. Since that investment began, the port’s hard infrastructure has been continuously upgraded, with extended terminals, dredged deep-water channels, and progressively automated cranes and yard systems replacing what had been an aging facility.
Piraeus has grown from a container throughput of approximately 680,000 TEUs in 2016, when it ranked 93rd globally, to annual throughput exceeding 5.6 million TEUs today, placing it as high as 25th worldwide. The port has also become the fourth-largest container port, the second-largest cruise homeport, and the largest ferry port in Europe, alongside its role as a roll-on/roll-off automobile hub and ship repair center in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Award Presented at Transport Industry Conference
The Special Award was presented during ITC 2026, Greece’s leading annual conference for the infrastructure, construction and transport sectors, held at the Megaron Athens International Conference Centre. The Transport Day session on September 30 was opened by Greece’s Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, Vassilis Kikilias, with discussion centered on the reconstruction of the Greek port industry, including ferry services, cruise, ports and shipyards.
PPA framed the award as recognition of a period defined by investment, development and a strengthened competitive position, as well as the port’s growth as a cargo and logistics hub for Southeast Europe. The company has also moved in recent months to broaden its corporate mandate, proposing changes to its statutes that would allow wider investment activity as the European Union increases scrutiny of Chinese ownership stakes in European ports.
Operational Headwinds Persist
Despite the decade-long narrative of growth, PPA’s own figures show container throughput at Pier I totaled 241,290 TEU in the first half of 2026, down from 393,876 TEU a year earlier. Both domestic and transhipment cargo declined, with domestic container traffic falling 33.1 percent to 91,967 TEU and transhipment volume dropping 41.8 percent to 149,323 TEU.
PPA attributed the decline mainly to weaker commercial activity across both domestic and transhipment segments. The figures stand in contrast to the record revenue and EBITDA the port authority reported for full-year 2025, when strong cruise and container activity helped produce the company’s strongest financial results on record.
Why it matters
Piraeus functions as a principal gateway linking Asian and European trade routes and anchors Greece’s position in Mediterranean container, cruise and ferry logistics. The ten-year COSCO anniversary underscores how Chinese state investment has reshaped a major EU port’s infrastructure and global ranking, a dynamic now under closer EU regulatory scrutiny. At the same time, the sharp first-half 2026 volume decline signals that even a transformed, higher-capacity Piraeus remains exposed to swings in regional and transhipment demand, a factor shippers and investors will weigh when assessing the port’s near-term trajectory.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News / Piraeus Port Authority / WorldCargo News
