20th Century

The fist part of the 20th century  was absolutely positive to the city of Piraeus with the exception of the period 1912-1922 (the Balkan Wars, the First World War  and the Asia Minor Catastrophe). After this period Piraeus suffered a great demographic explosion, with its population almost doubling to reach 251,659 in 1928 (133,482 in 1920), owing to the arrival of refugees from Asia Minor. The positive element was an increase in the laboring force but it also brought  a lot of social problems with its concentration in the suburbs of the old city (municipalities of Nikaia, Keratsini, Drapetsona, etc) without the basic needs covered.

Despite the importance of the Piraeus' harbour those years the works of modernizing the harbour didn't go fast. The most important of these were the two permanent dry-docks at Kremmydarou Bay, commenced in 1898 and completed in 1912.

On the other side, a new managing system was too needed so a Port Committee began operating as an autonomous Legal Entity, which controlled the works of construction and maintenance of the port. Until this, it had been a municipal issue. Under this new authority a new sector NW of the port was constructed.

Finally, in 1930 the Port of Piraeus Authority was established to make a more efficient management of the port that was slowly increasing its traffic. In this way, it was supposed that the problems of the port's infrastructure were going to be solved with a unique and strong authority. Until the entrance of Greece in the Second World War a lot of port works were made so as to cope with the demands of traffic at that time.

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