Greece is positioning itself as a “potential hub” for accessing European markets with the country’s Pireaus Port playing a crucial role in transshipment activities. This came up during a meeting between Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Inland Waterways and Christos Stylianides, the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy of Greece here on Monday.

Stylianides said there has been active interest by Indian exporters to tap European markets and Greece could play a key role with Piraeus transshipment complex being an important cog, officials present at the meeting told businessline.

Pireaus port is strategically located and can act as an entry point into the European Union.

Moreover, the Hellenic Republic is also keen to invite Indian investments into the country’s expanding ports sector, he maintained.

Stylianides mentioned that the country had tied up with European nations (to launch Mission Aspides) thereby ensuring security and safety of maritime trade against potential Houthi attacks.

Energy hub

Over the last several years, Greece has become a regional energy hub, serving both as a transshipment point for natural gas supplies to Southeast and Western Europe and as an exporter of electricity to its neighbours.

India on its part is “not closed” to the possibility of using Greece’s Port of Piraeus for its European exports. But no commitment was made, officials present there said.

“There has been interest among Indian exporters to tap into the European markets; and they can use Greece as a hub. The Piraeus port could play an important role. This came up during the meeting on the sidelines of Sagarmanthan - The Great Oceans Dialogue (a maritime conference),” a senior Ministry official said.

The I2U2 Grouping

The creation of I2U2 grouping in 2021 - with India, Israel, the UAE, and the US - has is seen as a major step towards improved cooperation with Mediterranean countries. One of the goals of the I2U2 grouping is to encourage joint investments among member states in six sectors including: energy, food security, health, space, transportation, and water.

Leveraging on I2U2 group, India expects it could easily access European markets through the Piraeus transshipment complex, either via UAE Ports or the Adani-owned Haifa Port in Israel, sources said.

There are five influential shipping nations globally, and this includes Greece, Japan, China, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Between the five of them, they control 53 percent of the world’s total tonnage.

Greece is amongst the fifth largest ship-owners in the world. Its merchant fleet services over 22 percent of the United States’ (US) imports and exports, over 20 percent of European trade and 32 percent of Asian trade. 

India’s push to shipbuilding 

India on its part has pushed for greater investment from Greece’s shipping companies, specially into the subcontinent’s still nascent shipbuilding & ship-repair sector. 

“The Greek shipping industry is one of the cornerstones of the world economy and trade. We are keen to see them invest into the shipbuilding sector in India,” Minister Sonowal said,  adding that GIFT City is Gujarat would provide necessary financial incentives and benefits at part with global majors like Singapore or Hong Kong. 

Greek companies are already exploring India for ship recycling and dismantling activities. 

This apart, Sonowal also pushed for speeding up work on activating the India - Middle East - Europe Corridor (IMEEC), with the Hellenic Republic playing a key role there. 

“Bilateral trade between India and Greece was $1.9 billion in FY24, and by 2030 we would look to double it (to about $ 4 billion),” he said.

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