An architectonic work of representating infrastructure key places of the port, the bureaucratic mechanisms that are so beautiful and intriguing. Particularly the emphasis was put to places that are forbidden or difficult to enter. The work is divided in two sections, the first one concerns the places that were visited (even if they are declared as prohibited) and the second results from a collection of material that has to do with places where no visit was possible. I was not in Greece when I was asked to work on this Piraeus project. Always intrigued though to see hidden aspects of the port, I decided to engineer a look into the Custom’s bureaucratic infrastructure via a remote visit sought through a letter explaining my purpose, signed in my capacity as a professor. I then charged Katerina, an architect and photographer, to enter areas of the port that could only be accessed for such a ‘scientific’ purpose. We obtained the required special permission from the Ministry of Finance and my col-
laborator was guided by an officer into the Customs sheds, where in some cases she was allowed to take photographs. I then asked her to return to photograph some specific areas I felt to be of key importance. These places are important monuments of the port. I thus worked from a distance, as a collector selecting from the abundant material uploaded tin a flickr set that is still visitable. The chemical laboratories controlling the petrol’s quality, their chambers and the specific equipment were particular finds of the port’s contemporary archeology I decided to develop; I wanted to construct archeological finds out of the Customs and the chemical laboratories. This was the first purpose of this work. These chemical laboratories and the fuel research engines are, in 2008, particular places and objects belonging in an ongoing archeology of petrol.
The empty offices of the bureaucratic infrastructure, the customs and their chemical laboratories constitute the living remains of Piraeus port, its contemporary monuments.
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small fuel octane research engine
fuel research engine This engine gave the engine and fuel industries the first universally accepted standard test engine which could be produced in sufficient quantity to meet industry needs. The improved ability of the automotive and petroleum refining industries to tailor their products to perform better together because of a recognized standard for defining fuel quality undoubtedly led to rapid evolution of both fuels and engines. This would have been more difficult without the octane scale and the better understanding of fuel/ engine relationships which use of this engine in both industries promoted.
aliment’s qualit y manual
drawing for cons truction of shelves - chemic al laborit ories
The engines are still sold today for basic research in such new areas as exhaust emissions and alternate fuels suit ability, contributing to tomorrow’s problem solutions. These engines were produced on a threeshifts-per-day basis during World War II, making principally the supercharged aviation gasoline test unit which helped in the development of 100octane and eventually 115/145 grade fuel which gave the allied air forces an edge over the axis nations which did not have such fuel at the time, thus contributing to the fall of the totalitarian powers.
fuel transpor tation tank Currently, the fuel research engine is offered in five basic packages according to the method of testing involved. These include: 1- The motor method for rating fuels under severe engine conditions -2- The research method for rating fuels under mild conditions -3- The motor (LP) method, which has specification details similar to the motor unit with the addition of special equipment for rating liquified petroleum (LP) gases -4- The diesel cetane method for indicating a diesel fuel’s ignition delay (Long ignition delay, or low cetane number, generally causes engine roughness or tendency to irregular firing at light loads).
chemical essences sample cabinet fuel sample bottles
e e ch f th o s ve hel le s p m sa
mic
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or lab
ato
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fuel pump
imported food samples with control labels
transpor tation trolley for the fuel samples LABORATORY TABLES Piraeus_panels_with_back.indd 1
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The first container ship of state-owned China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co., known as COSCO, to dock at the Port of Piraeus, will arrive on Saturday morning, Greece’s Merchant Marine Ministry said Friday. “The Panamanian-flagged “River Elegance” will unload 580 containers at Piraeus’ container terminal,” the Ministry said. The use of Piraeus by COSCO is the result of the meeting between COSCO representatives and Merchant Shipping Minister Manolis Kefalogiannis in February and the trip Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis made to China in January where he met COSCO president Wei Jiafu, the ministry added. A ceremony to celebrate the inauguration of the direct link of Piraeus, the East Mediterrane-vvan’s largest port, with the Far East and China will be carried out on board the ship, the Ministry said. COSCO is currently evaluating a project to develop a transshipment container terminal on the Greek island of Crete. Cosco Pacific Ltd. (1199.HK), a unit of Cosco International Holdings (0517.HK), is also eyeing an investment in Piraeus Port Authority (PPA.AT). Both companies are controlled by COSCO. Greek media reports in March said the government is considering opening the way to strategic investors for the transit business unit of Piraeus and cited COSCO among interested parties. Greek Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis has previously said that further privatization of Piraeus Port Authority will take place in 2007. Source: http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/, Friday April 7, 8:19 PM
Reuters 12 JUN 08: Greece’s Piraeus Port (OLP) (OLPr.AT) said on Thursday that China’s Cosco Pacific (1199.HK) was the provisional winner of a tender to run and upgrade port facilities for up to 35 years.“The board of directors decided that Cosco is the provisional winner of the tender to upgrade OLP’s Pier 2 and Pier 3,” the company said in a bourse filing. OLP has said that Cosco, the world’s fifth-largest container port operator, offered 4.3 billion euros ($6.63 billion) to operate two piers in one of the top ten container terminals in Europe. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou; writing by George Hatzidakis; editing by Rory Channing/Elaine Hardcastle)
Reuters TUE 03 JUN 08: COSCO Pacific Limited submitted the top bid to run and upgrade Piraeus Port Authority S.A.’s cargo facilities. COSCO offered EUR4.3 billion ($6.71 billion) for the contract to operate the Company’s commercial docks for up to 35 years, and will invest a further EUR620 million ($967.1 million) to upgrade them.
The commercial port has a 900,000 square meter container terminal, including 626,000 square meter storage area, total wharf length of 2,774 meters, nine ship berthing positions, storage areas for dangerous goods and an independent road network to facilitate vehicles circulation, as well as a range of cranes, forklifts and carriers. Summary from Google Finance, (http://finance.google.com/ finance?q=ATH:PPA)
Article from AP Worldstream, 3 JUN 2008: COSCO offered 4.3 billion ($6.7 billion) for the concession, and an additional 620 million ($962 million) in investments, the authority said.
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ANNOUNCEMENT OF 2008 IR MAGAZINE 25 AUG 08 [Wei Jiafu, chairman and CAO Beijing, the PRC] Project expansion On 25 June 2008, COSCO Pacific received a formal notification from Piraeus Port Authority SA (“PPA”) in Greece stating that COSCO Pacific has been the provisional highest bidder in respect of the global tender for concession rights of piers 2 and 3 of Piraeus Port. COSCO Pacific is currently negotiating with PPA on the terms of the formal concession agreement. Piraeus Port is the largest throughout Greek port located along important commercial and strategic shipping routes, services under such routes cover Europe, Asia, North Africa and the Mediterranean. Piraeus Port is hopefully to become the first overseas holding container terminal invested and operated by COSCO, investing in Piraeus Port is fully in compliance with the development strategy of Cosco Pacific and is favourable for the Group to become a leading global terminal operator.
Reuters WED 26 NOV 08 (Garth Bray): Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and Chinese President Hu Jintao witnessed the signing of a contract by statecontrolled China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco) to operate the container port of Piraeus (OLP) for 35 years, touted as a landmark agreement in the development of Greek-Chinese relations, and part of the government’s privatisation agenda. Cosco vowed to increase maritime investment in Greece after the signing of a 3.4 billion eurodeal to run the country’s largest port, dispite protests from dockers. The Chinese company has insisted that it will create 1,000 new jobs at the port for Greek workers and more than double its capacity by 2015.
Chinese COSCO Chief Eexecutive Officer Wei Jiafu and Greek Chief Eexecutive Officer of the Piraeus Port Organization Nikos Anastasopoulos sign the deal assigning the running of cargo facilities at the main port of Piraeus to Chinese container giant Cosco in Athens on November 25, 2008. Chinese President Hu Jivvvntao is on a three-day official visit to Greece highlighted by the signature of several key trade accords. Article from: AsiaInfo Services June 30, 2004, photo by AFP/ Getty Images
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