In view of forecasts for a 30 percent drop in cruise tourism to Greece in 2017, South Aegean Governor George Hatzimarkos recently met with Cosco management at the Piraeus Port Authority, to discuss ways to address the issue.

Chinese giant COSCO, which on Wednesday completed officially the acquisition of a majority stake in Piraeus Port, said it aims at developing OLP into one of the largest container transit ports in Europe.

Chinese shipping giant Cosco will dish out some 500 million euros over and above the paying price for the port of Piraeus, its managing director, Xu Lirong, said this week during talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who is in China on an official five-day visit to attract investments.