THE
principal Greek Port of Piraeus has had cargo volumes three times the level it
was two years ago, before Cosco Pacific won the contract to run the terminal
near Athens, reports International Herald Tribune.
For EUR500 million (US$647 million) Cosco leased half of the Port of Piraeus in a one-stroke privatisation deal and quickly converted a business that had languished as a state-run operation to a "hotbed of productivity", said the report.
The other half of the port is still run by the state and lags behind the Cosco Pacific section because of entrenched labour rules and high wages.
"Everyone here knows that you must be hard-working," said terminal manager Fu Cheng Qiu, on whose watch the Cosco side of the port has lured new clients, high-volume traffic and bigger ships.
"As the Greek government contemplates shedding state-owned assets to help pay down staggering debts, it might be tempting to consider leasing or even selling the rest of the port to China. But if the Cosco example is representative, the trade-offs - mainly a sharp reduction in labour costs and job protection rules - might be ones many Greeks would be loath to accept," the article said.
"Union labour will push back to keep the protection it has enjoyed," said Boston Consulting Group country manager Vassilis Antoniades. But the Cosco investment, he said, "shows that under private management, Greek companies can be globally competitive."
"The Chinese want to make money with work," Captain Fu said, adding that Europeans have pursued a comfortable life instead. "They wanted a good life, more holidays and less work. And they spent money before they had it. Now they have many debts."
Other than a handful of Chinese managers, moreover, Cosco's operation is providing around 1,000 jobs to Greek workers - compared with the 800 or so who work the docks under Greek state management.
On Cosco's portion, cargo traffic has more than doubled over the last year, to 1.05 million containers. And while profit margins are still razor thin - $6.47 million last year on sales of $94.2 million - that is mainly because the Chinese company is putting a lot of its money back into the port.
Cosco is spending more than $388 million to modernise its dock to handle up to 3.7 million containers in the next year, which would make it one of the world's 10 largest ports. Beyond that, workers are also laying the foundations for a second Cosco pier.
The state-run side of the port, which endured a series of dock strikes in the three years before Cosco took over, has been forced to modernise. Still, only about a third of its business consists of cargo handling; the rest is involves more lucrative passenger traffic.
For EUR500 million (US$647 million) Cosco leased half of the Port of Piraeus in a one-stroke privatisation deal and quickly converted a business that had languished as a state-run operation to a "hotbed of productivity", said the report.
The other half of the port is still run by the state and lags behind the Cosco Pacific section because of entrenched labour rules and high wages.
"Everyone here knows that you must be hard-working," said terminal manager Fu Cheng Qiu, on whose watch the Cosco side of the port has lured new clients, high-volume traffic and bigger ships.
"As the Greek government contemplates shedding state-owned assets to help pay down staggering debts, it might be tempting to consider leasing or even selling the rest of the port to China. But if the Cosco example is representative, the trade-offs - mainly a sharp reduction in labour costs and job protection rules - might be ones many Greeks would be loath to accept," the article said.
"Union labour will push back to keep the protection it has enjoyed," said Boston Consulting Group country manager Vassilis Antoniades. But the Cosco investment, he said, "shows that under private management, Greek companies can be globally competitive."
"The Chinese want to make money with work," Captain Fu said, adding that Europeans have pursued a comfortable life instead. "They wanted a good life, more holidays and less work. And they spent money before they had it. Now they have many debts."
Other than a handful of Chinese managers, moreover, Cosco's operation is providing around 1,000 jobs to Greek workers - compared with the 800 or so who work the docks under Greek state management.
On Cosco's portion, cargo traffic has more than doubled over the last year, to 1.05 million containers. And while profit margins are still razor thin - $6.47 million last year on sales of $94.2 million - that is mainly because the Chinese company is putting a lot of its money back into the port.
Cosco is spending more than $388 million to modernise its dock to handle up to 3.7 million containers in the next year, which would make it one of the world's 10 largest ports. Beyond that, workers are also laying the foundations for a second Cosco pier.
The state-run side of the port, which endured a series of dock strikes in the three years before Cosco took over, has been forced to modernise. Still, only about a third of its business consists of cargo handling; the rest is involves more lucrative passenger traffic.
Source : HKSG,
10.01.13.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar