Kavala also off the market
Like Alexandroupoli, northern port removed from sale list due to its strategic importance
After the decision to cancel the tender for Alexandroupoli Port Authority and instead develop its infrastructure through public investments to be undertaken by the main shareholder, the TAIPED asset utilization fund, the government has also decided to proceed with a similar model for the Kavala Port Authority.
Like Alexandroupoli, Kavala constitutes port infrastructure of critical geopolitical importance, adjacent to important energy facilities and resources, as well as transport routes. Infrastructures include the only active hydrocarbon field in the country (Prinos), the underwater cavity off Kavala that can be used as a strategic gas reserve depot (the tender for which is ongoing), also the prospect of developing sites of undersea carbon dioxide storage and the Trans-Adriatic Natural Gas Pipeline (TAP).
Furthermore Kavala has an airport. It is located next to the Egnatia Highway and is close to the vertical roads that will be developed and connect it to the Balkans, while its proximity to the city to Alexandroupoli is such that its port is often treated as a complement to its counterpart in the northeastern Greece.
The Kavala Port Authority SA, 100% of whose share capital is controlled by privatization fund TAIPED, is responsible for a port system consisting of four mutually complementary ports: the Apostolos Pavlos Port of Kavala, which serves passenger traffic, coastal shipping, cruising, yachting and fishing; the port of Keramoti, belonging to the Municipality of Nestos, which serves freight traffic and coastal shipping; the port of Nea Peramos, which is also a fishing harbor; and, finally, the Philippos II Port, which is intended for the service of freight traffic.
The complex of these four ports has been characterized as having international importance, as it can function as a hub for the Eastern Balkan Peninsula.
It should also be noted that the port, as well as the wider area of Kavala, has already attracted American interest, as expressed by the former US ambassador in Athens.
