The One Belt One Road initiative- the expected impact on the economy and logistics sector of Greece

The primary aim of this thesis was to investigate the extent to which the modern Maritime Silk Road will manage to eventually boost the sensitive Greek economy and the extent to which Greece will be able to gain a powerful position regarding the logistics sector and will manage to become a key logistics provider to the EU. In order to provide an answer to the main research question, the researcher proceeded to the conduction of exploratory interviews with five professionals, operating within the Greek market. The analysis of the data indicated that, despite some minor disadvantages, the OBOR project is expected to have a significant and positive impact on the Greek economy, as well as on the logistics industry and the individual firms of the country. Greek economy is supposed to strengthen and grow, thanks to large infrastructure projects and resulting connectivity between Europe and Asia. The logistics industry will expand further its activities, to increase the volume of services and to reach to even higher profitability levels, while individual firms will mainly benefit by developing strategic partnerships with Chinese companies. Some of these positive effects have, already, started to materialize, while others are expected to arise both in the short and the long term. OBOR project refers mainly to a large investment on the Port of Piraeus, however, apart from the port area, benefits will spread into the wider Greek economy. In more details, it is expected that OBOR initiative will affect positively the construction industry, along with the shipping and the tourism industry and trade. Again, it is foreseen that such effects will start to materialize both in the short and long run. Overall, it is believed that the Chinese investment will contribute to the reduction of the high unemployment rate and to the increase of the GDP of Greece. Summing up, Greece has the potential to benefit from initiatives, such as the OBOR investment and become a leading logistics services’ provider in the European market. Nonetheless, it is imperative that certain measures are taken. The results of the research confirm only partially the findings of previous similar researches, since they reject the view that investment on infrastructure affects the economic growth only in the long run.