Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-08-10

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] COSCO says aims to turn Piraeus port into one of Europe's largest container hubs

[02] Last-minute international arrivals jumped 9.1 pct in July, says tourism body

[03] Greek swimmer Andreas Vazaios qualifies to semi-finals in Rio

[01] COSCO says aims to turn Piraeus port into one of Europe's largest container hubs

The company will invest a total of 293.8 million euros in a series of mandatory projects in the next five to seven years, including the expansion of the cruise port, the upgrading of the ship-building zone, and the construction of a multi-storied garage in the Ro-Ro vessel port, the company said in a press release.

In the future, the Group will step up its investment to develop the Piraeus into one of the largest container transit ports in Europe and one of the biggest home ports for cruise operators in the world. "COSCO will invest in a 300,000DWT dock and improve supporting facilities, so as to boost the ship repairing capacity and seek opportunities for repairing offshore equipment," it said.

COSCO also said it will reform the Ro-Ro vessel port, which will make it the largest auto terminal in the Mediterranean and will accelerate the construction of China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line to close the gap between China and eastern and southern Europe.

"The Group will leverage on the construction of logistics and warehousing, respond to the 'Belt & Road' initiative and further expand the advantage of the port as a bridgehead of sea-land intermodal to forge it into the logistics distribution center in the Mediterranean, as well as the south gate to Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans," COSCO said, adding that these investments will hopefully create more job opportunities and a better development platform for the younger Greek generation.

[02] Last-minute international arrivals jumped 9.1 pct in July, says tourism body

Breaking down the numbers by destination, Crete, the Ionian Islands and the Cyclades received once more the bulk of international airport arrivals in July, with 12.8 pct, 13.3 pct and 8.7 pct increases respectively, compared with the same period last year. Athens and Thessaloniki also showed a 10 pct and 11.4 pct rises in international arrivals respectively.

On the other side, Kos, Samos and Lesvos - the islands mostly affected by the refugee crisis - recorded drops of 13 pct, 16.3 pct and a whopping 62 pct respectively.

"It is confirmed that the current tourist season remains fluid. The strengthening of the 'last minute' trend creates preconditions for achieving the goal set by SETE in the beginning of year for a 6 percent increase in arrivals, but at this stage it seems extremely difficult to achieve the corresponding target for revenue growth," the association said.

"At the same time, it is necessary to reiterate that the aforementioned increase will not reflect the situation in all destinations, with everything that this implies in terms of state revenue, employment and strengthening local communities."

[03] Greek swimmer Andreas Vazaios qualifies to semi-finals in Rio

Vazaios secured the third position in the third heat with a time of 1:59:33 and the ninth among his fellow competitors who passed to the next phase. The semi-finals are scheduled for the early hours of Thursday, at 05:29 and 05:38 (Brazil time).

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