Greece’s Council of State (CoS), the highest administrative court in the country, this week ruled in favor of a plan by the Cosco-managed Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) to transform the Perama ship-repair zone into larger ship-building yard.

The Chinese multinational, which owns a majority stake of Greece’s biggest and busiest port, has previously blocked at the regional government levels and even by various development ministry committees in its attempt to run a shipyard on the extreme western side of its port concession.

Besides the local government opposition and “foot-dragging” by the previous SYRIZA government, the ruling now opens the way for the investment.

Nevertheless, intense opposition to the project remains standing by various ship repair contractors operating from Perama, from small on-board outfits to major overhaul units on the shoreline.

The president of the union representing shipbuilding and ship-repair contractors in Greece (SENAVI), Vassilis Kanakakis, reiterated that his association believes the concession contract between the Greek state and Cosco, dating to 2016, clearly precludes the operation of a shipyard at the Perama site.

Private contractors fear that Cosco will set up a monopolistic arrangement at the large port, funneling vessels that use its facilities to its own nearby building-maintenance-repairs unit within the port authority, bypassing other contractors or limiting the number of contractors that can work within the PPA.