USA and China compete for investments in Northern Greece

Northern Greece is going to become an alternative gateway for trade flows from Asia and Africa to Europe, through the cooperation of the Port Association (ThPA) with the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE).

This is an agreement, which highlights the new role that ports play as flexible business operators, as they do not longer want just to host ships but they claim to co-shape the maritime trade.

The cooperation, as reported by the journal “NEA”, concerns the development of “sea highways” with the aim of enhancing trade not only between the two countries, but also between Africa and Asia with Central, Eastern and Western Europe.

A lot will depend on the speed. The advantage of ThPA is that it can serve freight from Egypt and from Italy in a shorter period of time than other ports in Greece, such as the port of Piraeus.

The plan to develop a dry port in Sofia and a second one in Serbia by the ThPA brings freight closer to the railway and from there quickly and safely to the markets of the Balkans and Central and Eastern Europe.

Thus, the trade of vulnerable products with the chartering of ships by the two partners seems to be a very normal development. Something similar was pointed out in the joint press release, which notes that the goal is not only the exchange of knowledge and professional experience between the Ports of Port Said and the Port of Thessaloniki, but also the creation of a shipping line for vulnerable goods and bulk cargo and cruise development.

“The Suez Canal Economic Zone, an area that aspires to be the economic hub of Africa, that wants to approach Central and Eastern Europe, and the TPA, which wants to become the gateway not only to the Balkans but to the whole of the Southeast and Central Europe, meet in an ambitious plan that has no limits in terms of trade flows “according to information.

More than just a port

At the same time, agents of Northern Greece report to the journal “NEA” that the signing of the cooperation agreement with SCZONE is part of ThPA goal to be more than a port and to become a main provider of a combined multi-gateway transport network and to supply chain solutions for the Balkans and the wider region of Southeastern, Central and Eastern Europe. Some even claim that China wanted also to invest in the Port of Thessaloniki as it acquires customers from a very large market representing Africa and Asian countries, even India.

However, the cooperation between the two sides is also of geopolitical interest as the project seems to strengthen the role of the Port of Thessaloniki as an alternative to that of Piraeus, which is controlled by the Chinese, and whose further development is not welcomed by the American factor. .

It should not be forgotten that in the meantime, the privatization of two other ports in Northern Greece is underway, namely Alexandroupolis and Kavala (concession of activity in the commercial port) with which, in the future, the ThPA may cooperate, connecting these two ports with the Suez Canal, serving the individual interests of each port. Already a theoretical scenario under consideration is the transfer of liquefied natural gas from Egypt to the FSRU under construction in Alexandroupolis.