Thessaloniki Port, Greece’s second-largest, said on Thursday its 2013 net profit dropped 1.4 percent to 18 million euros ($24.81 million), hurt mainly by higher taxes. The state-owned Thessaloniki Port (OLTH), which is slated for privatisation as part of the country’s bailout programme, said turnover fell 2.5 percent to 52 million euros in the same period. “Despite the crisis and the economic recession, OLTH has achieved a steady profitability in the past three years, it increased its turnover and reduced its operational costs,” its Chief Executive Officer Stelios Aggeloudis said, adding that OLTH recovered cargo business it had lost in 2008 due to the global financial crisis. The state owns 74 percent in Thessaloniki Port and its largest port in Piraeus (OLP) and wants to sell a majority stake of them to private investors to turn them into regional hubs and boost their competitiveness. Selling assets is also a key condition of Athens’ bailout programme. The debt-laden country has so far raised about 2.6 billion euro in cash, far below the 22 billion euros it had set as an initial target when its bailout began four years ago. Earlier this month, Greece launched a tender to sell 67 percent of Piraeus Port. In 2009, China’s Cosco Pacific signed a 35-year agreement to run and upgrade two of its piers. ($1 = 0.7254 Euros) (Reporting by Renee Maltezou)