Plan B if the railroad blockade continues

A disruption to the railroad following a deadly accident in Tempi could cause big problems in the port of Piraeus.

This is due to the fact that a large volume of cargo accumulates, which carrier companies, and especially Cosco, will not be able to send to their destinations. In this regard, they are working on alternative options to relieve the terminal and normalize the supply chain.

In particular, a solution was proposed to use small container ships that would be diverted to Piraeus and from there to the port of Kopper in Slovenia, transporting goods destined for Central Europe.

It should be reminded that the railroad trade unions continue their strike for the seventh day, emphasizing that they are fighting for the safe movement of trains, for the truth to shed light on the outrages happening under the roof of the Italian company Hellenic Train, and those responsible for the tragic train accident were found, no matter how high they were. “We demand that all competent authorities immediately take appropriate measures to restore safety on Greek railways so that our workers and fellow citizens do not experience such a tragedy again.”the railroad says.

According to market sources, the modernization of the Greek rail network has always been a key issue, since the Balkan route to Europe (Serbia, Hungary, Czech Republic, etc.) can save up to seven days compared to the sea route to the ports of Rotterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp.

For this reason, according to the same sources, the acquisition of a controlling stake in the railway company PEARL (Piraeus Europe Asia Rail Logistics) by Cosco through Ocean Rail Logistics was moving forward. PEARL served 1,400 trains in 2021, 1,297 trains in 2020, and 749 trains in 2018, carrying 102.7 thousand containers, 92.2 thousand containers and 44.5 thousand containers, respectively. In total, of the 5.3 million containers handled by Piraeus in 2021, only 100,000 were transported by train, but traffic is constantly growing.

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