Reports: Piraeus port authority board the latest 'hiccup' in privatization

 By Antonis Tsiblakis

The latest “hiccup” in the closely watched privatization of the Piraeus Port Authority, which owns and manages Greece’s biggest port, appears to be a clash between the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (TAIPED) and the shipping ministry over the composition of authority’s board.

The PPA board of directors is responsible for changing articles in the state-run entity’s charter to allow for the transfer of a majority stake of the port to Chinese multinational Cosco, which submitted a winning bid in a relevant international tender. Cosco, which already holds a concession for the container port in Piraeus, is set to acquire 67 percent of the port authority and its management.

An extraordinary PPA general assembly is set for Friday.

According to reports, TAIPED wants at least four board members replaced, although the current president and managing director are expected to stay on. Sources told “N” that a majority of the current board members – 10 of the 13 – have often clashed with management over the pending privatization. Certain members have also echoed positions by the ministry’s leadership, who in the past took a negative position over the Cosco deal, specifically, and against the privatization, in general.

 The same sources consider that the current board of directors may not approve of the charter changes for the port authority, as requested by TAIPED, which must be ratified at a second general assembly meeting in May. Other reports state that the shipping ministry’s leadership – in an apparent deviation from the stated government policy on the port’s privatization – wants to retain certain board members that have in the past expressed opposition to TAIPED’s positions over the privatization.

Selling off a majority concession of the port of Piraeus is a memorandum-mandated action signed by the government.