Piraeus 10.3.2014
Press Releases
With the strong presence of the Piraeus Port Authority (PPA S.A.) and the Hellenic Ports Association (E.LIM.E.), the largest international exhibition of the world cruise in Miami (Cruise Shipping Miami 2014), starts today, Monday 10th of March.The PPA will be represented by Mr Stavros Hatzakos, General Director and Chairman of MedCruise, and by Mr. Theodore Tsitouras, Cruise Director, who will participate in workshops about the prospects of the cruise, while already major meetings have been scheduled with senior executives of the largest cruise companies (Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC, Costa, etc.), aimed at the further development of the cruise in Piraeus and the Greek area.
The representatives of the PPA go to Miami fortified by the prospects offered by the Investment Program of PPA SA (2010 - 2015) and in particular, the expansion of the southern part of the passenger cruise port, a project which is being executed through funding from the EU at 95% of the total cost, which will make the port of Piraeus the main hub in the Mediterranean cruise. Last year’s successful operation of the new International Passenger Terminal (IPT) “Themistocles”, the upgrading of the IPT “Miaoulis”, the provision of cruise services certified in accordance with the requirements of the international ISO standards, ensuring a strong trust relationship of PPA SA and the cruise market. Already, for the two new IPTs, “Ag. Nikolas” and “Salamina”, but also for its architectural configuration of the total coastal landscape, the PPA is proceeding to an open ideas competition involving consultants from the main cruise companies.
The exhibition will run until March 14th 2013, where the PPA will be participating in the unified national pavilion.
Mr. Stavros Hatzakos is keynote speaker at the Cruise Conference that is being conducted during the exhibition, while in his capacity of Chairman of the Association of Mediterranean Cruise Ports, he will present, along with Mr. Thanos Pallis General Secretary of MedCruise, the Special Report of the statistics of Cruise ports in the Mediterranean and surrounding regions, whereby the PPA is now firmly the main hub of the Eastern Mediterranean and one of the three main cruise ports in the Mediterranean.
As the President and CEO of PPA SA, Mr. George Anomeritis, commented: “Piraeus, from 2009 and onwards, shows a continuous steady upward average trend (7 %) in both cruise ship calls and in transit passenger numbers. It remains constantly the 1st port of the Eastern Mediterranean, with a market share of 23.25%. Greece, as a total of cruise ports in the Mediterranean, ranks in 3rd place, after Italy and Spain. Cruising is for PPA SA a profitable business with excellent prospects, contributing to the development of tourism in Athens and Piraeus”.
