In 2023, DP World Limassol Limited, the company managing the Limassol Port, received a compensation payment of €3,354,449, as documented by the Ministry of Finance.
This claim arose from disagreements with the Ministry of Transport, and based on parliamentary discussions during the Cyprus Ports Authority’s budget debate in February 2024, as well as other information obtained by philenews, the company won the arbitration case, including compensation, due to cargo activity at Larnaca Port exceeding the maximum volume specified in the Limassol Port concession agreement.
The question that arises, and which has been raised previously, is how such a term was included, allowing cargo activity at Larnaca Port to trigger compensation claims for the company managing Limassol Port.
AKEL General Secretary, Stefanos Stefanou, after a meeting with the Port Authority in Larnaca, raised concerns about the privatisation of Limassol Port, stating:
“I want to once again bring attention to an issue that AKEL has consistently raised in the House of Representatives, regarding a provision in the privatisation agreement for Limassol Port operations, which also affects Larnaca Port. This provision, in a bad agreement that constitutes a scandal, states that if Larnaca Port’s activity exceeds a certain level, compensation must be paid to the concession company managing Limassol Port.”
Stefanou emphasised, “It is unacceptable for this provision to exist, and it negatively impacts Larnaca Port. We will encounter this issue as we discuss the management of Larnaca Port and the necessary investments. We have heard that the government attempted to terminate this provision, and from our understanding, the Cypriot state lost the court case. Therefore, we will face this issue of the Larnaca Port cap, which, I reiterate, stems from a bad agreement that should be investigated,” concluded the General Secretary of AKEL.
