FUTURE PLAN

Piraeus Container Terminal now needs a new pier -- Pier IV, said Vamvakidis, referring to future plans. "Our activities are getting better and better every day. There are clients who diverted their hubs, and they prefer Piraeus because of that. We need space."

Once added with another pier, the annual capacity of Piraeus port will surpass 10 million TEUs, and the port will move up in ranking from the current fourth place among European container ports, he noted.

Recalling Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the port in November 2019, Vamvakidis said: "I was very much impressed how such a great man of a great nation can be so friendly ... He was talking to us like we know each other for years."

During the visit, Xi said that seeing is believing, and that he had seen here that the China-proposed BRI was not a slogan or tale, but a successful practice and brilliant reality.

Vamvakidis strongly believes in the BRI vision and Piraeus' role in it. As Piraeus has become the largest container port in the Mediterranean, expanding cooperation between the two countries will further inject new vitality into trade and logistics, he said.

"It (Piraeus port project) has prospered very much for Greece, but it has also been very useful for relations between China and Europe as it is now a major trading hub, transportation hub for goods both ways," former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou told Xinhua recently.