The other bidders were the Grimaldi Euromed and Minoan Lines consortium, Danthia Shipping, MRG Ltd, Portek International, Quintana Infrastructure and the Port Authority of Thessaloniki, the agency said.

On Friday, the deadline for bidding expired.

In 2010, at the beginning of a decade-long financial crisis, Greece embarked on an ambitious privatization programme to help reduce its public debt and attract investors to reform and improve the business efficiency of its properties.

To date, Athens has earned approximately EUR 7 billion from the initiative, which includes the selling of the majority stake in the port of Alexandroupolis and the sub-concession for the operation of the Kavala multipurpose port terminal, both in northern Greece.

Maritime Business World