The Greek port industry is gaining a second powerful pillar after Piraeus, causing increased international interest.

Thus, the geostrategic position of the country is further used as a factor of stability on the outskirts of Europe, during the war in Ukraine and increased risks of disrupting international trade.

Developments in the three main ports of Northern Greece, and in particular in Thessaloniki, Igoumenitsa and Alexandroupolis, indicate that the northern axis, which starts east from the border with Turkey and reaches the west through Egnatia in the Adriatic, is becoming an alternative port. a system infrastructure that, due to its location, is expected to open up new markets and take over the shares of Piraeus.

The world’s third largest container shipping company CMA CGM a few days ago included in the program of increased frequency the regular service of Thessaloniki with Northern Europe and the coasts of Turkey, and in fact with ships that will be among the largest that have ever entered the port of the capital.

At the same time, the plans of the Greek state are advancing along with the TAIPED unit for the comprehensive modernization of the port of Alexandroupolis, with new, larger piers, modern equipment and dredging of the port basin, so that, in addition to its military role, it can also take on the role of a transport interchange node for bulk cargo, primarily grain from Ukraine, but also containers. Some of these projects are expected to be included in the Recovery Fund.

At the same time, the new main shareholder of the Igoumenitsa Port Authority, the Grimaldi Group, is preparing, immediately after taking control of the port in the first half of 2023, to implement investments and changes that will speed up and dramatically facilitate loading and unloading. time of trucks heading to and from Italy.

They are connected to Egnatia Odos and the Balkans through the rail network.

These three Greek port infrastructures of Northern Greece, which are connected to the Egnatia road as well as to the Balkans via the railway network and the vertical axes of the Egnatia roads, can monopolize international trade in the wider region, extracting significant shares from Piraeus and other Black Seas. Sea and Adriatic ports.

A catalytic role in the wider planning is played, on the one hand, by the vertical connections of Egnatia, the modernization and modernization of which will begin immediately after the start of the handover of the HEK TERNA axis, on the other hand, the project of a railway connection between Alexandroupolis and Ormenio, located under the delicate northeastern borders of Greece, which will give even more importance to Alexandroupolis as a gateway to the Eastern Balkans and to Eastern Europe as a whole, including Ukraine. A gate that bypasses the Bosphorus efficiently and competitively, diplomatic and business sources say.

Meanwhile, the port of Thessaloniki is already Greece’s first transit port for general cargo and one of the main ports in the Eastern Mediterranean. And if Alexandroupolis aims to be an alternative to the Bosphorus, Thessaloniki is aiming to become a port gateway to the region’s wider supply chain. Industry sources in Northern Greece also explain that thanks to the new CMA CGM regular container line, cargo can now be delivered to both Northern Europe and Turkey, and from there to the markets of the Near and Middle East, without resorting to road transport to Piraeus. In other words, to create another corridor of the overland Silk Road from Asia to Europe.

At the same time, a tender has been launched for the modernization, doubling the capacity and installing signaling and electrification of the existing railway line on the Alexandroupoli-Ormenio section, with a budget of 1.07 billion euros (1.33 billion euros including VAT). advanced stage. The project will give the Alexandroupolis-Bulgaria corridor a competitive advantage over the Bosphorus and, in addition to its energy and defense role, can play a leading role in servicing combined transport cargo (rail/sea) between the countries of the Middle and Far East and the countries of the Black Sea and Eastern Europe.

In the enigma of the booming port complex of Northern Greece, Grimaldi’s plans for Igoumenitsa cannot be overlooked: in particular, the new main shareholder of the port seeks, on the one hand, to improve the infrastructure of Igoumenitsa so that the services offered by its main customers, transport companies and trucks, should be modernized and, on the one hand, for the development of a freight center using Egnatia to attract more trucks bound for Europe from a wider region.