A pending draft law on the Piraeus Port Authority aims to pave the way for the submission of binding offers for a 51-percent stake of the entire port by three candidate investors participating in the second phase of the tender: COSCO, AMP Terminals Maersk and ICTSI.

The new draft bill is expected to be tabled to Parliament.

Drafting of the bill began in December 2014 but failed to be completed because of the general elections. The Greek state has signed a master concession contract with the Piraeus Port Authority for the exclusive right of use and exploitation of land, buildings and infrastructure.

Chinese multinational Cosco already holds the concession for the Piraeus container terminal.

The current SYRIZA government vowed to scrap the privatization of the port when it was in the opposition and after it was elected, however, a third bailout memorandum that it approved this month made privatizations a priority.