Global transport operator Hutchison Whampoa has scuppered talks on the concession for container facilities at Greece's main northern port of Thessaloniki, the port authority said Wednesday.
A consortium headed by the Hong Kong-based operator withdrew its interest in the deal this week, port authority chairman Lazaros Kanavouras told the Greek semi-state Athens News Agency (ANA)
"The general manner of their participation in the negotiations had not given us reason to expect such a sudden break," Kanavouras told the agency.
He attributed the decision to the global financial crisis.
"(The consortium) has informed (us) that it it withdrawing its interest in the concession," the Thessaloniki port authority said in a statement.
"The two sides were in the process of drawing up a contract following an international tender in which the consortium had been declared a temporary concessionaire," it said.
Hutchison, which had outclassed rival operators Cosco and Dubai World Port with a 419-million-euro (586-million-euro) bid, has not commented.
The container terminals of Thessaloniki and the main port of Piraeus are a top privatisation priority for Greece, which seeks to exploit its strategic position at the European Union's gateway and maximise trade proceeds.
Last month, the Greek government, in the presence of Chinese President Hu Jintao, signed a 35-year concession of Piraeus' main container facilities to China's Cosco which it said will bring a guaranteed premium of 3.4 billion euros (4.8 billion dollars) and boost the port's capacity by 250 percent.
The plan for Thessaloniki had an investment target of 250 million euros and was to triple the port's capacity to 1.6 TEU's.
Both Piraeus and Salonika are currently turning a profit but the funds are insufficient for the "massive" investment needed to fully face up to their regional competitors, the government says.
