UpdateGreece dockers to strike over terminal sale

25 January 2008 15:50  [Source: ICIS news]

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LONDON (ICIS news)--Greek port workers are due to go on strike next week over Athens' planned privatisation of its terminal operations, but an official denied claims on Friday that unions were refusing to negotiate with the government.

The Union of Loaders and Unloaders (ULU) will stage a one-day strike on 30 January in Thessaloniki and Piraeus and the National Federation of Dock Workers will strike on 31 January, closing all 17 Greek ports.

“We will negotiate but the government just wants to talk and talk,” said ULU president Simeon Lefdheriotis, adding that Greece's two biggest ports Piraeus and Thessaloniki are strategic assets and should be kept in public hands.

Unions said they will also implement an overtime ban throughout February in protest at proposals to sell the container handling terminals at the country’s two biggest ports.

“We have tried every day to negotiate but the unions don’t want a settlement,” said a Greek Mercantile Marine Ministry spokesman.

Maurizio Aponte, head of the Mediterranean Shipping Co’s European operation, said that the company had diverted one vessel from its hub in Piraeus to Astrakos, about 300km west of the former port and one of only a few Greek ports capable of handling the line’s deepsea vessels.

 

More MSC vessels were expected to follow suit in the run-up to 30 January, but Aponte was uncertain what the company will do on the Greece-wide port strike on 31 January.

Operator Cosco Pacific, the Hong Kong-listed arm of China Ocean Group, is said to have rekindled its interest in the Greek terminals.

The company had been in negotiations with the government in 2006, but opposition to privatisation had led the Athens government to shelve its plans.

"We want to develop the big harbours,” added Lefdheriotis.

By: Nick Savvides
+44 20 8652 3214

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