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THE TWO FACES OF GREECE

“Love Sea!” (The Aegean Sea, that is). That’s the first reaction you get from most Chinese people when they hear the word Greece. Lately other words have been added, such as “Athens” or “Olympic Games.”

Most Chinese know Greece as a popular holiday destination and for newly married couples, a dreamed honeymoon resort. They think of clay houses; the Cyclades; Santorini; light blue seas; tasty food; loud, warm-hearted Greeks and the Mediterranean lifestyle.

It all sounds great and very tempting, but lately Greece is showing a more dynamic face in boosting international ties with non traditional trading partners. Since the Olympic Games, by default, offers hosts a chance to present themselves to a worldwide viewing audience, Greece seized the opportunity to unfold the full spectrum of her advantages.

It is Greece as a competitive market in a plethora of sectors, like energy, the maritime industry, the financial sector, or infrastructure; it is Greece as a gateway to all of Southeastern Europe; and it is Greece as a secure and reliable international partner in carrying out challenging tasks. Hundreds of millions of citizens around the globe, from state leaders and opinion-makers to tourists, businessmen or investors, are engaged somehow in the image and the pulse of today’s Greece.

Greece is seen as much more than a tourism industry. Apart from tourism, shipping is also a sector of great opportunities for Greece since the country has a significant advantage in these two sectors.

Greek shipping is set to expand. At 190 million deadweight tonnage, the fleet is today larger than ever, while the prospects have never been better. Furthermore, Greece has a strategic geopolitical position in the freight transport system of the Mediterranean area, creating great potential for development of its seaborne transport, especially in the perspective of a prosper Short Sea Shipping and of the Motorways of the Sea which will facilitate the enormous and continuing trade in the broader area.

It is obvious that the development of sea-based tourism and of the shipping industry requires adequate port facilities, as well as high quality port services. Therefore, there is a continuously increasing demand for modernization and development of the infrastructure and superstructure of ports and marinas.

In recent years, the shipping and port industry worldwide has experienced a considerable restructuring. The traditional port-gateway has been replaced by the port logistics centre that provides complementary transport operations, supports logistics services and coordinates multi-modal traffic.

In a time of intensive competition, Greek ports are facing significant challenges that require both productive and organizational restructuring to remain competitive. And that is where China’s leading international containers operator, COSCO comes in. 

COSCO Pacific, a leading international container supplier and shipper, has been chosen, by Piraeus Port Organization (PPO), to manage its cargo services in a deal seen as being of strategic importance for Greece and its vital transport sector.

The handing-over of Piraeus port’s cargo facilities to a leading international container operator, COSCO Pacific, signals a major change for the region’s sea transport industry and confirms Greece’s important strategic role in southeastern Europe.

COSCO, Asia’s third-largest container terminal operator, was named the provisional winner of a bid to run the container operations at the port of Piraeus, Greece’s largest.

Its bid, which Piraeus values at as much as 4.3 billion euro over the 35 years of the concession, was chosen by the Piraeus Port Authority (PPO) board.

The amount will be paid over the duration of the contract and COSCO will invest 620 million euro in upgrades. COSCO will pay an initial amount of 50 million euro to PPO and 591 million euro in rent over the 35-year period, along with a guaranteed 2.7 billion euro, at least, from future earnings.

Market experts were mixed as to whether the price was fair for the privatization deal; however, they agreed that choosing COSCO is significant from a strategic point of view.

“COSCO will be using Piraeus to drop off Chinese products destined for different countries in southeastern Europe. Once the shipments are unloaded at Piraeus, they will then be transported via national highways in northern Greece to neighbouring countries,” said a Greek analyst who declined to be named. “Choosing COSCO was an important choice.”

COSCO holds stakes in a number of Chinese ports in the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the Bohai Rim in northern China. Outside of China, it has a 49 percent stake in the Port of Singapore, a 25 percent stake in Belgium’s Antwerp port and stakes in ports in the United States.

PPO’s officials have claimed COSCO’s bid is the highest ever submitted for a container terminal worldwide, and equals about seven times the company’s current capitalization, five times its total profits and at least 15 times the container terminal’s profits.

The privatization comes at a time when the crisis in international capital markets and a declining world economy are putting the brake on corporate investment plans, making the government privatization agenda more difficult to complete.

At the same time, Greece’s privatization agenda also includes the privatization of Thessaloniki’s port’s cargo facilities. Plans to sell off state assets are also providing the Greek Government with the opportunity to boost international ties with non-traditional trading partners.

“This development also broadens our economic relations with China, which is a steadily rising world power,” said former minister of the Ministry of Mercantile Marine, in a press conference held in June 2007.

With the two countries having hosted two consecutive Olympic Games between them, Greece and China have been steadily drawn closer on a cultural and economic level, including in the tourism and transport sectors.

在比雷埃夫斯港眺望
文/仇筠茜

在柏拉图叙述的亚特兰蒂斯文明中，波塞冬因为全城的立法被刻在立于城中心的黄铜柱子上，他的神庙用大量的象牙、黄金装饰而成，华美尽显。如今，位于希腊南部的比雷埃夫斯同样深深镌刻着波塞冬的痕迹。在苏尼恩海角，建造的海神波塞冬神殿好像向前突出伸到了爱琴海，被夕阳渲染的美丽大海简直无法比喻，让人真实地体会到荷马“酒红色的大海”。

地中海经典格调

2800年来，比雷埃夫斯为希腊吐纳着木筏、游轮、集装箱……

2800年来，比雷埃夫斯港口为雅典迎送了多少朝圣者、商人、游客

如果走水路去雅典，就一定会经过比雷埃夫斯港口，对于艺术家，这是一幅低色调的画面，游船做背景；对于电影迷，这里是奥斯卡获奖作品《星期天不行》的布景；对于海事迷，这里是人类驶向大海的最初起点。

比雷埃夫斯是希腊首都雅典的外港，位于雅典西南8公里的萨罗尼科斯湾畔，临近萨罗尼克湾，是阿提卡大区比雷埃夫斯州的首府，比雷埃夫斯自古就是雅典重要的港口和军事要地，如今还是主要的造船和工业中心和地中海沿岸重要的商业港口。

在固若金汤的古希腊卫城东北方仅8公里处，这座港市自豪地耸立着，运载着滨海民族那伟大的古代海洋建设的骄傲。在港口外沿，可以看到现代的大小轮船鳞次栉比的排列在比雷埃夫斯一个又一个的码头边上，完全找不到几千年前的港口踪迹，只能从希罗多德和修昔底德的著作中隐约看到它模糊的背影，依靠视觉和思想把游客带回公元前四五世纪。那个年代，它是雅典海军的故乡，并曾多年处于数位雅典大师的领导之下。

在游轮上感受着缓缓回旋的烘烤芳香混杂着烟叶的气息在海风中飘荡。白昼的阳光洒在灰尘上，还照亮了那些大型轮船公司和希腊航运系统等现代商业中心建筑。这光明的海港沐浴在路灯淳厚的光之中，按照“独立旅行者之希腊岛屿展望2006”的说法，无论何时的比雷埃夫斯“任何立足于使之更多的脱离绝大多数旅行者所探求的梦幻田园之岛的构思都是困难重重的”。

基克拉泽斯群岛的白色泥胚房子、圣托里尼岛的黑色沙滩，还有蓝天白云风和日丽、热情好客的希腊人、地中海式的生活节奏、鲜活可口的海产品、爱琴海岸上亚热带海风吹拂的蜜月旅行……这一切听起来都“很希腊”。不过，这个城邦可不仅仅是孕育着“蜜月”、“奥林匹斯”、“阿佛洛狄忒”抑或“蓝色文明”。这个时代，世界不知疲倦地睁大了双眼，凡是擅于在奥运狂欢之中把握时机的国家都赚足了眼球，这其中当然少不了希腊邦。当喧嚣渐释，世界各国排排坐，这位神秘的老人打开尚不为人知的锦囊……

联袂中国远洋

希腊市场的竞争力体现在许多方面：从能源、海洋工业到金融行业和基础设施建设。作为通往欧洲东南部的门户和可靠的合作伙伴，希腊受到了从政界精英到普通民众，从商界英才到各国游客的青睐，他们都在或多或少地感受着这个国家的脉搏。

希腊的航海运输在世界贸易中举足轻重的作用似乎也是早已注定的。达到了最高水平的1.9亿吨载重吨位的货轮，加上比雷埃夫斯港得天独厚的地理优势，带来的是极具潜力的海上运输市场，特别是在短程运输、高速运输等新兴市场方面，这个港口将辐射更为广泛的贸易区域。

世界贸易的全球化、技术和机构的变革、世界市场的自由化……都深深地影响着当今的港口工业。然而，随着全球化的脚步越发匆匆，现代化的贸易要求港口、商埠、码头也需要调整步伐，以适应现代的消费需求、新兴的生产模式以及重大的经济和技术变革。

港口的控制在几年之前靠的还是大门的开关闭合，而现在活跃在码头上的已经是新型的物流中心的身影了。新兴的物流公司为来往的货商提供全程的运输服务、物流服务、协调多式运输。世界贸易步步为营，对于运输的需求日益凸显，海上运输凭借它高效率、安全、环保等得天独厚的优势脱颖而出。

在竞争激烈的现代社会，希腊的港口正在面临着前所未有的挑战，需要提高工作效率，以及机构的重大重组，为了保证竞争优势。正是在这个地方，中国的领先航海运输公司——中远集团开始涉足的起点，也是其全球贸易滚滚来袭之时的下一个战略据点。

中远太平洋在2008年6月花费43亿欧元拿下了比雷埃夫斯港。经希腊比雷埃夫斯港私有化项目评标委员会和港务局董事会决议，比雷埃夫斯港务局宣布中远公司为该港口集装箱码头35年投资经营权的暂定中标方。

比雷埃夫港口是在雅典交易所上市、由希腊政府所有的企业，因劳工关系问题近年来经营不善，2007年集装箱转运业务量下降33.7%，处于亏损状态。2008年该公司股价已累计下跌70%以上，市值只有3亿多欧元。为此，希腊政府启动了对其私有化的程序。

希腊海运部部长表示，中远集团将向港务局支付5000万欧元的首付资金，剩下的5.91亿欧元租金将在35年租期内交付，同时中远公司还需保证从未来收益中支付至少27亿欧元给希方。该局负责人还表示中远公司将在合同期内投资6.2亿欧元进行港口基础设施建设。

“比雷埃弗斯港口将成为中国产品走向欧洲东南部各国的第一站，中远集团公司把中国产品卸到比雷埃弗斯，希腊北部的国家高速公路是这些中国产品走向邻国的必经之道”，希腊分析家说，“对中远集团而言，这是一个具有战略意义的抉择。”

中远集团的触角包罗国内也涵盖国外：中国珠江三角洲、长江三角洲、中国北部的渤海湾都有中远的业务。此外，中远集团在新加坡持有49%的股份，比利时安特卫普 港口的25%的股份，它在美国的许多港口也持有股份。

在2008年6月召开的一个新闻发布会上，希腊公共安全部长吉奥格斯·万尔加拉基斯说：“中国作为稳步上升的世界经济力量是大家有目共睹的，而这次中远集团和希腊比雷埃夫斯港签订的这个协议，为希腊和中国的双边经济关系的发展带来了新的契机。”

在2008年的北京奥运会举办过程中，希腊和中国就又很多融洽的合作，两国正在文化、经济等诸多领域内取得广泛的共识，在旅游和运输方面的合作关系也更加密切。

柏拉图说：“希腊人就像住在池塘边的青蛙。”《圣经·创世纪》中说：“神的灵运行在水面上。”

希腊人对海洋禀怀着沉淀多年的敬畏与感激，这份情愫凝结在比雷埃夫斯港口，如同一座横亘于时空的灯塔，阖眼聆听着海浪深处。