Greece's Piraeus port has developed impressively since the COSCO Shipping Corporation took over the management in a 35-year lease. COSCO Shipping's vision is to turn Piraeus port into a leading international transit hub for products and services from Asia to Europe. What are the changes? What benefits have the development of the port brought to the local Greeks? CGTN Su Yuting went to Piraeus to find out.

Piraeus port, where the modern maritime Silk Road connects with the land route. It's the largest Greek seaport and one of the biggest in the Mediterranean Sea and Europe.

COSCO Shipping's subsidiary Piraeus Container Terminal has been managing Piers II and III at Greece's largest port since 2009 under a 35-year concession agreement. COSCO Shipping wants to boost the port's overall cargo traffic to over 6 million containers by 2019, up from just over 4 million at the end of 2017.

Nikolaos works for the company and he has witnessed the changes that the terminal has taken over the past few years. It has been extended and upgraded with new infrastructure projects.

He said the terminal has been linked with the Greek railways, and new gigantic cranes have been installed.

NIKOLAOS PETSOS, COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT PIRAEUS CONTAINER TERMINAL S.A. "The employment rate has risen, we have 1,600 people working here directly, and approximately 200 working indirectly. All these are newly created positions, directly linked to COSCO Shipping Port investment."

COSCO Shipping also took over the management of Piraeus Port Authority which now runs Pier I. In addition to the vigorous development of the container sector, investment and businesses in ship-building and repair, international cruise ships, and car terminals are also expanding this year.

NEKTARIOS DEMENOPOULOS, DEPUTY MANAGER PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPT., PIRAEUS PORT AUTHORITY S.A. "With the creation of a big logistic centre, this serves the goal of exploiting the geographical position of the port, developing it as a hub and logistics center to explore markets in the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Central and Eastern Europe. So we believe being part of this huge Belt and Road project has significant and positive effects for the local and national economy of Greece."

SU YUTING PIRAEUS PORT, GREECE "Many local people say the value-added-services at the port of Piraeus will open new doors for the Greek economy. President Xi Jinping has called for Greeks and Chinese to turn the port into a transfer hub for containers in the Mediterranean, a bridgehead for land-ocean transportation, and a pivotal point for more cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Su Yuting, CGTN, at the Port of Piraeus in Greece."