Piraeus Port sees return to full-year profit

ATHENS, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Greece's largest port, Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) (OLPr.AT), expects a return to full-year profit if revenues and cost cutting remain on track, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

"After containing losses in the last period, we estimate full-year results will not be negative, if revenues stay as they are and cost cutting remains on track," Nikos Anastassopoulos, OLP's chief executive told reporters.

Piraeus Port, which has seen containers pile up due to dockworkers' refusal to work overtime since January, reported a 0.6 million euro loss in the 9-month period compared with a 20 million euro profit a year earlier.

Greece, with two of the largest ports in the eastern Mediterranean region, launched tenders for Piraeus and the port in the northern city of Thessaloniki earlier this year in an effort to turn them into regional hubs and boost cargo business.

China's Cosco Pacific (1199.HK), the world's fifth largest port operator, has signed a guaranteed 3.4 billion deal with OLP to upgrade and run for 35 years port facilities in Piraeus, which it sees as a commercial gateway to southeast Europe.

"OLP made an aggressive and defensive alliance amid adverse economic conditions. It secured liquidity and investments that will boost its competitiveness," said Anastassopoulos.

OLP said the deal which is expected to be approved in parliament in December would boost its profit by 60 percent in five years and create at least 800 new jobs. But dockhands have planned a 24-hour strike on Dec. 11 saying their rights will be hurt. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)