The ongoing crisis in the Red Sea is causing upheavals in the handling of containers at the port of Piraeus. In April, Europe’s fourth port in terms of containership arrivals showed a 7.6% drop in container traffic compared to the same month last year.
The crossing of containerships around the Horn of Africa has changed the sea routes and delivery times, causing delays and overconcentration of containers in many ports.
The port of Piraeus has been particularly affected, due to its strategic position in the Eastern Mediterranean. A ship that will circumnavigate Africa will have to cross the entire Mediterranean, from Gibraltar, in order to reach the country’s first port.
In 2023, the port of Piraeus handled a total of 5,100,920 TEUs from all three transshipment stations.
First quarter
According to data published by Cosco Shipping Ports, a total of 341 thousand containers were handled from piers II and III, managed by the Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) in April 2024, compared to 369 thousand in the same month of 2023, i.e. a drop of 7.6%.
Between January and April, the handling of containers from piers II and III fell by 10.4% compared to the corresponding period of 2023.
Overall, 1.272 million containers were handled in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 1.42 million containers in the same period of 2023.
In March, the drop in container traffic from the same piers reached 15.4% compared to the same month in 2023.
Total container traffic at the 36 ports controlled by Cosco Shipping Ports, a member of the Cosco Shipping Group, continued to grow in April, rising 7.6% year-on-year.
Moreover, a total of 9.174 million containers were handled last month compared to 8.528 million containers in the same month of 2023.
At the four-month level, a total of 34.766 million containers were handled by Cosco’s 36 ports compared to 31.953 million containers in the corresponding period of 2023, i.e. an increase of 8.8%.
It is noted that Cosco Shipping Ports’ overseas terminal traffic continued to show steady signs of growth and recovery, increasing by 3.6% in April.
Cosco Shipping Ports (Spain), Terminals SLU and Zeebrugge (Belgium) performed particularly well, with container traffic increasing by 13.5% and 42.2% respectively.
