The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
Infrastructure
in Greece
Greece
is in the process of completing its vast programme of infrastructure
projects with EU support. As a result, every level of transport
and communication is being upgraded on a profound scale. In parallel,
the liberalisation of the energy and telecom market leads to the
modernization of the existing network and provide new opportunities
for development.
Highways and motorways in Greece
Egnatia Highway
Egnatia (680 km) stretches east-west, linking the northwest port
of Igoumenitsa to Alexandroupolis at the Turkish border via Thessaloniki,
with nine vertical connections to the Balkan countries and links
to five ports and eight airports.
Pathe Motorway
The Pathe motorway (750 km) includes the Athens ring road and
stretches the north south axis from the port of Patras to the
border with former Yugoslavia.
Ionian Motorway
The Ionian Motorway is the western axis which connects Rio-Antirio
with the port of Igoumenitsa and the Egnatia highway.
Attiki Odos Motorway
Attiki Odos is part of the Athens peripheral ring road. It is
the main link of all transport (airport, ports, intercity railway
stations, urban train stations, metro, intercity coach stations
and heavy goods transport stations). The motorway serves more
than 30 districts in Attica.
Rion-Antirion bridge
The Rion-Antirion suspension bridge is one of the most important
and impressive projects in Europe. With a span of 2.5 km across
the western mouth of the Gulf of Corinth, the bridge connects
the southern peninsula with northern Greece.
Railways in Greece
The Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) investment plan of 3,245
billion Euro is a large expansion programme which will modernise
Greece’s main rail access, opening a rail connection to
Europe via the port of Patras.
The project entails the construction of a double track line in
accordance with international specifications, which will link
Patras - Athens - Thessaloniki with the country’s north
and northeast borders. The project has been designed for trains
with high manufacturing specifications and standards.
Ports
in Greece
Greece
has 123 cargo or passenger ports which handle passenger ships,
cruise ships and cargo. With the financing of the EU, 50 ports
will be upgraded with a total expenditure of 300 million Euro.
Port
of Piraeus
Maximum draft: 14.0 million Euro
The port of Piraeus
is the largest port in Greece and lies on the Saronikos Gulf
southeast of the mainland. General cargo, bulk cargo, containers,
tankers and ro-ro vessels are served.
Port of Thessaloniki
Maximum draft: 11.5 million Euro
The port is located on the northwest shore of the Thermaicos
Gulf. Positioned in a sensitive geopolitical area, the Port
is at the cross-roads of east and west. It is the nearest European
port for handling freight traffic to and from the Balkans, Eastern
Europe and the Black Sea.
The conventional port is divided into two areas; one area for
EU cargo and the other for non European Union cargo. This port
is equipped to handle grain, general cargo, bulk cargo, livestock,
containers and passengers.
The facilities offered in the Port of Thessaloniki include:
• a
modern and efficient container terminal with a combined
capacity of 200.000
containers per year, large and
efficient ro-ro terminals
• 3 container berths
• 20 general cargo berths
• tanker and liquefied gas terminals
• 15 transit sheds
• 20 warehouses.
Port
of Volos
Maximum draft: 9.75 million Euro.
Volos is located at the head of the Gulf of Pagasitikos on the
eastern Greek mainland. It is at the centre of Greece allowing
it to serve the entire country. General cargo, bulk cargo, tankers,
ro-ro vessels and ferry boats are accommodated.
Port of Patras
Maximum draft:11.5 million Euro.
The Port of Patras is on the northern shore of the Peloponnesus
on the Greek mainland. It services passenger traffic to and from
Italy. General cargo, bulk cargo, containers, tankers and ro-ro
vessels are served.
Port of Alexandroupoli
Maximum draft: 5.5 million Euro.
It is situated in the northeast tip of Greece, an ideal location
for trade transportation in the Mediterranean Sea, serving the
northern Balkan countries and the central east European countries.
It handles mainly general and bulk cargo.
Port of Elefsina
Maximum draft: 12.4 million Euro.
The port is located on the Saronic Gulf towards the southeast
of the mainland, 14 km from Piraeus. Exports include cement, oil-based
paints, soap, wine, resin and olive oil. Imports consist of general
goods. Tankers are also served.
Port of Igoumenitsa
Maximum draft: 7.5 million Euro.
The Port of Igoumenitsa is situated on the east side of the Corfu
Channel, in Igoumenitsis Bay. It is considered the western gate
of Greece and it facilitates maritime transport between Greece
and Italy. It will be linked to the Egnatia highway, expediting
the movement of passengers and vehicles to Italy and the rest
of Europe.
Port of Iraklio
Maximum draft: 12.9 million Euro.
Iraklio is located on the north side of the Island of Crete. General
cargo, bulk berths cargo and containers are served, as well as
passenger traffic.
Porrt of Kavala
Maximum draft: 10.0 million Euro.
Located on the northern Greek mainland, Kavala is a small sheltered
port encompassing the offshore oil terminal of Prinos which is
situated between Kavala and the Island of Thasos. General cargo,
bulk cargo, containers, tankers, ro-ro vessels are served.
Port of Kalamata
Maximum draft: 8.84 million Euro.
The port of Kalamata is located in southern Greece. General cargo,
bulk cargo, containers, tankers are served.
Port of Lavrio
Maximum draft: 6.1 million Euro
South of Piraeus on the Greek mainland, Lavrio lies in Egasteria
Bay. General cargo, bulk cargo, tankers as well as coastal ships
are served.
Port of Chalkida
Maximum draft: 6.4 million Euro
It is situated on Euboea Island to the east of the Greek mainland.
The port has reception facilities for general as well as bulk
cargo. The principal products handled by the port are cement,
building materials and fertilisers.
Airports
in Greece
Greece has 39 international standard airports many of which have
been upgraded or rebuilt during the last years. The next five
year plan includes expansion and renovation of 21 more airports
with a total cost of more than 400 million Euro.
In March 2001, a state-of-the-art airport was delivered in terms
of technology and equipment with focus on safety, user-friendliness
and service excellence. Europe’s southern gateway to the
world, the Athens International
Airport has been one of the biggest infrastructure projects
in Greece.
The airport is owned by the Greek Republic and a private consortium
under the leadership of Hochtief. It has been constructed on a
BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) for a concession period of 30
years.
January
1st, 2001 the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) was
deprived of its general natural monopoly. This was a result of
a new policy which supports new activity and healthy competition
in the areas of fixed and wireless telephony.
However, OTE ranks amongst the top groups of companies in Greece
and the top ten telecommunication organisations in Europe. It
has numerous subsidiaries - such as COSMOTE (mobile telephony)
and OTEnet (Internet services) which perform impressively and
participates in the international (global and regional) satellite
telecommunications organisations and operational systems such
as Intelsat, Inmarsat, Eutelsat, and New Skies.
OTE extends its activities beyond the Greek frontiers into South-eastern
European markets and the Middle East. Its foreign investment portfolio
includes capital investments in other countries (Albania, Armenia,
Jordan, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Yemen, Bulgaria, Georgia, Lithuania).
As far as mobile telephony is concerned, it is very popular in
Greece. A country with a population of roughly 11 million people
has about 6 million cellular telephone customers being served
by the four largest cell phone providers in Greece: Cosmote, Vodafone
and Tim and Q-Telecom.