Thessaloniki (Greece)

Thessaloniki is an Aegean Sea cruise port and among Greece's biggest cities, with population around 325,000 (metro over 1 million). It is also the commercial center and principal seaport of Greek Macedonia.

Thessaloniki is one of Greece's most popular tourist travel destinations. The downtown is considered the most popular in Greece for street photography. Many fine examples of Byzantine art have survived here, particularly the mosaics in St George Church and Hagia Sophia Basilica. Other best-known tourist attractions are the Old Town's walls and the archaeological museum displaying items from all over Macedonia.

The city is Greece's second major political, industrial, commercial and economic center (after the capital Athens), as well as an important transportation hub in Southeastern Europe. The city is also renowned for its annual cultural events and festivals, considered Greece's cultural capital. Annual events held here are the International Trade Fair, Song Festival, and the International Film Festival.

Port Thessaloniki

Port Thessaloniki (locode GRSKG) is Greece's largest export port and one of the largest in the Eastern Mediterranean, also handling large shipping traffic destined to the Balkan countries. The Port greatly benefits from its strategic location, being in close proximity to TEM (Trans-European Motorways) and TER (Trans-European Railways). The port authority company (ThPA SA) that manages the terminals is Athens Exchange-listed.

The Port handles mainly boxships (carrying TEU-containers) and conventional cargoes (non-containerized), providing free-zone services including logistics, intermodal rail (freight train shipping) and passenger shipping (ferries and cruise ships). Currently (since Port's privatization in 2018), 67% of ThPA SA is owned by the joint venture SEGT Ltd (Deutsche Invest Equity Partners GmbH Germany/47%, Terminal Link SAS/CMA-CGM France33%, Belterra Investments Ltd Greece/20%), while Greece/State (via HRADF/Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund) owns only 7,27%. The remaining shares (25,73%) are public float (owned by public/private investors).

Statistics for FY2020 show total shipping volumes 460724 TEUs (ranking it Greece's second-largest containership port - after Piraeus) and 17,09 million cargo tonnes (7,838M liquid-bulk, 5,949M general, 3,304M dry-bulk).

• TEUs are handled at the Container Terminal (Pier 6) which has length 550 m (1805 ft) and max draught 12 m (39,4 ft), which allows it to handle small and medium-sized boxships (with max TEU capacity ~600K). The facility is sized 254,000 m2 (25,2 hectares / 62,765 acres) and is directly linked to Greece's railway network.
• The Conventional Cargo Terminal has a total of 14 quays (total length 4,2 km / 2,6 mi), all of which are also linked to Greece's and international railways.
• Passenger ships (Ro-Pax ferries and cruisers) are served by a dedicated Passenger Terminal (former customs house).
• Since 2019 is granted a 15% port charges discount to Greece's Green Award Foundation-certified vessels berthing at the Port.
• Since 2020 are offered Intermodal Rail Services via freight trains linking directly Thessaloniki with Sofia (Bulgaria's capital city).
• In 2021 started works on a port development project (Pier 6's expansion) for building a new quay wall (length 513 m/1683 ft, effective depth 17,7 m/(57 ft), an additional storage area (alongside the new wall) as well as infrastructure works (including dredging/deepening). The expanded Pier 6 now has the capacity to handle ULCVs (ultra-large container vessels).

Since 2018, during summer months (May through September) the Northern Aegean's Sporades Islands are linked with Thessaloniki via ferries run by Golden Star Ferries and Seajets. The Thessaloniki-Sporades route was inaugurated on June 15, 2018, and served with 2 new ships. Ferries depart from Thessaloniki daily (at 10 am) and return at 7:15 pm. One-way ferry tickets cost EUR 60 (USD 70) per person. Roundtrip tickets cost EUR108 pp.

The Seajets ferry service was inaugurated on June 30, 2018. Seajets ferryboat Aqua Blue (IMO 7429669, capacity 1300 passengers and 400 cars) connects Thessaloniki-Skiathos-Andros-Syros-Tinos-Mykonos-Paros-Naxos-Santorini-Crete (Heraklion) twice per week, with departures every Tuesday and Friday. Ferry travel time is 18-19 hours.

Following the Coronavirus crisis, in May 2021, Port Thessaloniki reported that has booked 14 homeporting cruise ship calls (July thru December). In 2021, for the first time since 2006, Thessaloniki served as a homeport (embarkation and debarkation port) for cruise boats operating on Aegean itineraries.

In May 2022 were installed 2x New Panamax STS (ship-to-shore) container cranes (cost EUR 15,7 million), to a total of 6x cranes. The new cranes are with max lifting capacity 65 tons and can serve large boxships with capacity 10K+ TEUs.

In September 2022 was inaugurated the ferry route directly linking Greece and Turkey - Thessaloniki with Izmir via Mytilene/Lesbos Island. The project was initiated in 2011. The Ä°zmir-Thessaloniki route is currently served by the Athens-based company Levanta Ferries with the RoPax ship Smyrna di Levante (1977-built, IMO 7527887, passenger capacity 950, cargo capacity 300 cars plus 55 lorries/semi-trailer trucks). The new passenger shipping service is provided once weekly, with crossing time ~12-13 hours (depending on sea/weather conditions). The maiden voyage departed from Thessaloniki on October 10, 2022.

Following a series of port infrastructure upgrades, in 2022, Port Thessaloniki handled 60 cruise ship calls (a 10-fold increase over 2019's 6 calls).

On November 22, 2023, was officially opened/inaugurated the "Alexander the Great Cruise Terminal" at Pier 2. The ceremony was attended by Christos Stylianides (Greece's Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy/since September 2023), Athanasios Liagkos (Executive Chairman of ThPA's Board of Directors), as well as by various dignitaries and officials (regional authorities, mayoral representatives, businessmen).

Thessaloniki cruise terminal