The story of two ports oceans apart captures the conflicting narratives of the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s scheme to finance and build infrastructure in more than 80 countries.

The benign storyline comes from Piraeus, a Greek harbour so revitalised by Chinese investment it has leapt from the world’s 93rd largest container port in 2010 to 38th last year.

Not content with these results, Cosco Shipping, the Chinese company that bought Piraeus, now intends to make it the largest port in the Mediterranean in 18 months, overtaking Spain’s Algeciras and Valencia. “Piraeus is the fastest growing port in the world. In this year, the management seeks to increase freight traffic by 35 per cent,” says Zhang Anming, the Cosco executive assigned to run the container terminal.