Port

The measures Greece and other countries have taken to contain the spread of Covid-19 have not yet impacted trade in Piraeus, officials involved with business in Greece's main port told Xinhua.

As work got under way on Piraeus Port Authority's (OLP) new cruise terminal on Tuesday, top officials of global cruise tourism giants Carnival and Royal Caribbean expressed confidence that it would reposition Greece's main port at the center of the Mediterranean cruise market.

Sifnos appears divided over plans to expand the port of the Aegean island to accommodate increased tourism arrivals during the summer period as locals seek to strike a balance between sustainability and development. 

The digital transformation of Greek ports - i.e. the adoption of procedures that will reduce the number of documents required for activities ranging from unloading ships to customs processing - has divided Piraeus deeply.

Global Ports Holding, the world's leading port operator, forecasts a 20 percent rise in cruise passenger numbers this year in Lisbon, the head of the company has said.

Chief Executive Officer Emre Sayın said Lisbon Cruise Terminal, which joined the company's portfolio in 2014, attracted nearly 570,000 passengers last year.

A container with ionising radiation above the norm was identified at the port of Varna-West. Border Police and the Regional Health Inspectorate in Varna have been notified of the case, BNT reported.

There is no danger to the workers at the port.

The container full of scrap is placed on a special site.

The plight of the cruise ship off Japan with more than 200 coronavirus infections and the shunning of another luxury liner by five ports despite no known cases has led to a sharp change in tack for an industry in shock: Avoid Asia.

Greece's Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) announced on Thursday it had seized 1.2 tonnes of processed cannabis inside a container at the port of Piraeus.

Authorities believe the container came from the Maltese-flagged freighter Cartagena Trader, which left Beirut on 21 December 2019 and was heading to Misrata, Libya.

Greek ports are expected to attract more cruise tourists following a rise of about 15 percent both in cruise liner calls and passenger arrivals in 2019, officials have told Xinhua.

In 2020, Greece will announce an international tender for the operation of 10 major regional ports. This was stated by Minister of Shipping and Island Policy Giannis Plakiotakis at a meeting with representatives of the Greece's Association of Cruise Ship Owners.