Boxes Pile Up in Piraeus

Thousands of containers are piling up at Piraeus, Greece's biggest port, after dock workers extended a week-long strike for another 48 hours in protest against an agreement with China's Cosco Pacific.

The latest stoppage began on Nov. 2 and was due to end on Sunday but the dock workers' union called on its members to stay off the job for two more days to increase pressure on the government to re-negotiate Cosco's 35-year concession on two of the port's three container berths.

The strike has prevented an estimated 4,500 containers from being unloaded at the port, prompting fears of shortages of consumer goods in the run-up to Christmas, if dock workers walk out again.

The union called off a 16-day strike in mid-October after the newly-elected Socialist government said it would honor its campaign pledge to re-open talks with Cosco Pacific to obtain job guarantees for dock workers.

The Greek economy and shipping minister Louka Katseli said Sunday the government cannot annul the legally binding agreement between Cosco and the previous conservative administration but she pledged to seek assurances on job security.

Cosco, the world's fifth largest container terminal operator, will pay around $5 billion over the life of the 35-year concession and invest an additional $350 million to upgrade container facilities.

The Hong Kong-based company plans to boost Piraeus' annual capacity to 3.7 million 20-foot equivalent units and make it a distribution hub for Chinese exports to southeast Europe.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.