April 20, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

The Corinth Canal opened for a few hours and again ….


As soon as the Corinth Canal was reopened to shipping on July 4, it had to be closed a couple of hours later due to a new landslide, local media reported. However, a little later there were denials ….

Locals joke, you can endlessly look at the sea, the fire and how officials and builders are sawing the budget funds allocated for the repair of the Corinth Canal.

The Prime Minister announced with pomp that the definitively repaired Corinth Canal has reopened a year and a half later following repairs and strengthening of its walls after several landslides in 2020-2021.

A lavish commercial was filmed for the refurbishment of the canal.


Government spokesman Yannis Oikonomou tweeted on Monday morning that “The Corinth Canal will be open in absolute safety for the next 3 months.”

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself, along with other ministers, company managers and local dignitaries, was on board the first one to pass through the canal. The prime minister, as usual, with “undisguised pride”, said that he was encouraged by the progress of the repair work, announcing about reopening on Monday.

According to Mr. Mitsotakis, “There has been no significant intervention on the Corinth Canal in the last 130 years.” (What about previous costly repairs? Or are they all bad fronts?)

With a budget of 32 million euros, the restoration project is being carried out in two phases; first, the slope unloading and channel cleaning were started by July this year, and the second stage of port work to stabilize the base of the slopes, starting in the fall of 2022.

However, literally immediately after the departure of the prime minister, another landslide occurred in the canal …

Pictured is a previous landslide


Local media reports: “It was a miracle that there was not a single accident with a passing ship crossing the canal.”

The competent authorities have ordered its closure until further notice, several media reports such as skai.gr , news24/7.gr and others, then, however, a refutation appeared or the pages with this news were deleted.

PS The management company denies disruption of the channel

Refutes information about new landslide in the Corinth Canal, the Corinth Canal Company (Ισθμού), which assures that it is working normally – and in fact the first passages of the ships took place.

Company announcement says the following: “AEDIC refutes the reports in the electronic press, which talk about the suspension of the Channel.

The Corinth Canal has been safely open since today, Monday 4 July 2022, and the first crossings have already taken place. End-to-end checks were also carried out for unhindered passage, without restrictions on the passage of ships.





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