Port Rivalry: China vs. US Showdown Benefits This Small European Country

On the last Thursday of November, the Greek Parliament approved the expansion plan of the U.S. company ONEX at the Elefsina Port, allowing the shipbuilding enterprise to acquire an additional 40 hectares of land and extend its operations from traditional shipbuilding into commercial, logistics, port, and energy sectors.Earlier in November, during the sixth P-TEC Ministerial Summit on Transatlantic Energy Cooperation held in Athens, Panos Xenocostas, President and CEO of ONEX Shipbuilding & Technology Group, was highly active. The Greek-American entrepreneur described ONEX’s plan to build an integrated shipbuilding and energy hub, calling the 2022 restructuring of Elefsina Shipyard, which ONEX led in Greece, a “rarely anticipated model of industrial revival.” He praised the upgrades to Elefsina Shipyard, noting that they not only enabled sustainable operations but also transformed the facility into a liquefied natural gas-supported energy center with advanced logistics and storage capabilities.Xenocostas attributed these achievements to the company’s employees, the local community, strong U.S.-Greece collaboration, and financing secured through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). The DFC is a government agency established under the 2018 Better Utilization of Investments to Promote Development Act and officially operational from December 2019. Its primary mission is to facilitate overseas investment opportunities for U.S. companies, strengthen America’s global economic leadership, and advance U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives. Given these responsibilities, the DFC board includes private sector representatives alongside key government officials such as the U.S.

Secretary of State, Treasury Secretary, and Secretary of Commerce, ensuring both legitimacy and strategic oversight.Competition with China in shipbuilding and shipping has been a key element of Trump-era policies aimed at reinforcing U.S. global economic leadership. Greece is considered a strategic hotspot in the Mediterranean to counter China’s influence. A recent visit to Athens by a senior DFC official signaled that Greece is viewed by the U.S. as a vital industrial hub and investment destination in the Eastern Mediterranean.However, Trump must acknowledge that COSCO Shipping has already established a foothold. The Port of Piraeus, not far from Elefsina Port, is Greece’s largest port. In 2008, COSCO Shipping signed a 35-year concession agreement with Greece and began investing in Piraeus Port’s Container Terminals 2 and 3 in 2009. By 2016, COSCO acquired a 67% stake in the Piraeus Port Authority, becoming the operator of the entire port. Under COSCO’s management, Piraeus has become the largest container port in the Mediterranean, the fourth largest in Europe, the third-largest European cruise homeport, the largest European ferry port, a ship repair center for the Eastern Mediterranean, and an automotive transshipment hub.Beyond these accolades, Piraeus Port serves as a strategic gateway connecting the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Black Sea, making it a cornerstone for China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Its current container throughput has reached 5.5 million TEUs, pushing the port’s capacity near saturation. COSCO aims to build a fourth terminal, which could increase throughput by at least one million TEUs, but the Greek government may delay or resist this request due to political considerations, while simultaneously extending a diplomatic hand to U.S. interests.The Trump administration has been developing multiple strategies to curb Chinese influence over critical Greek port infrastructure.

Strategic investment in Elefsina Port by U.S. companies is intended as a countermeasure to China’s expanding Mediterranean presence.On November 21, Greek Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated: “Agreements signed by previous governments must be respected. But I believe we can find ways to cooperate with the United States… Greece also has other ports to develop.”COSCO’s long-standing operational success and legally binding contracts at Piraeus, with annual revenues of €235 million—47 times that of Elefsina Port—prevent Greece from imposing commercial restrictions. Piraeus Port’s success illustrates the “win-win” outcomes of Sino-Greek cooperation during the European debt crisis nearly two decades ago. Yet, viewing the region as a battleground for global competition with China has again become a consensus among U.S. policymakers.The U.S.’s heavy investment in Elefsina Port is less about immediate commercial returns and more about leveraging its proximity to military infrastructure and logistics centers to create a complementary dual-use civilian-military hub, thereby reestablishing strategic advantage in the region.The Greek opposition has expressed concerns about the country being drawn into “U.S.-China rivalry,” uneasy about increasing dependence on Washington just as much as on Beijing. Washington’s unease stems from China’s management and control of 96 global maritime infrastructure sites, some of which could impact U.S. strategic interests. Trump’s approach seeks to reclaim influence—not only through tariffs and foreign direct investment review but also via direct investment in geopolitically critical locations.In this regional port rivalry between the U.S. and China, the most immediate beneficiaries may well be the ports’ legal owners, while Greece can afford to generously tell both sides: “We have many ports available for your investment.”