With international patrols unable to stop attacks on ships in the Red Sea from Houthi terrorists in Yemen, a reduction in traffic there is also cutting into Greece’s major port of Piraeus which is seeing a drop.
That’s mainly in transit cargo but not domestic goods which have stayed at a high level bringing big profits for the Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) under the control of the Chinese management firm COSCO.
Cosco Shipping Ports said 369,000 were handled from piers II and III managed by the Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) in July 2024 compared to 387,000 in the same month in 2023, a fall of 4.8 percent, said Naftemporiki.
Between January and July 2024, the handling of containers from piers II and III fell by 11.7% compared to the same period in 2023 and 2.327 million containers were handled in the seven months compared to 2.636 million in 2023.
There was also a decline of 3.5 percent in the handling of containers was recorded at Pier I and July container handling had an increase of more than 20% compared to 2023, handling around 55,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs.)
An attack by rebels in Yemen was launched against the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion that was hit by three projectiles from two small boats in an assault that saw an exchange of small arms fire to keep them from getting on board.
It happened in the Red Sea where the European Union, United States and United Kingdom are patrolling to protect ships from attacks in retaliation for Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip in a hunt for Hamas terrorists.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said there were no casualties among 25 crew members onboard but that the ship had lost the ability to maneuver in the sea, the news agency Reuters reported.
The vessel reported being approached by two small craft with approximately 15 people onboard with the battle taking place 77 nautical miles (142 kilometers) west of Yemen’s port of Hodeidah, said UKMTO.
British security firm Ambrey separately reported an incident in the same area, but did not provide further details. Delta Tankers, the company operating the tanker, was not immediately available for comment.
Attacks against ships have brought US and British retaliatory strikes on Houthi territories and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
