Greece’s port landscape has evolved into a mix of state ownership and international private operation, according to a review of the country’s major harbors. At Piraeus, the country’s largest port, Chinese shipping giant COSCO remains the dominant private operator, while in Thessaloniki a Greek businessman sits behind the controlling shareholder. At Heraklion and Igoumenitsa, the Italian Grimaldi group has taken majority stakes, and elsewhere the Greek state continues to own the port authorities outright, producing a network in which state ownership, Greek private capital and international shipping companies increasingly overlap.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addressed the arrangement at the Posidonia maritime exhibition in June 2026, saying the government was proud of the dynamism of the ports of Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Igoumenitsa, Heraklion and Kavala under the management of international port operators. The comment reflects a broader shift in Greece’s port strategy, under which international operators are no longer unusual participants in the country’s maritime infrastructure. Piraeus established the template Greece has since applied elsewhere: a private or international operator takes control of the port authority while the Greek state retains a role through ownership and concession arrangements, a structure Mitsotakis has defended even while acknowledging the geopolitical sensitivities surrounding Chinese control of Piraeus.
Source: Greek Reporter
