Taylor Portrait Hand Mirror, ca. 1848 
Image by Cornell University Library
(Title) danger signal emitted by ferry boats! The successive failures and accidents at sea – a fire in the engine speed boat while it was up Mesopelaya bumps – recorded since the beginning of summer, the season until now, not only afflict thousands of passengers, but the main thing that warns crews and ships yposyntirita have reached their limits. They show that wrecks like what happened with the “Express Samina” is not just random.
Typical example of the situation in a shipping company HSW, with 32 ships belonging to the most profitable of the industry. The sailors of the ships working until exhaustion. This is the company within a day, on August 6, 1594 ached and battered passengers, two of the yposyntirita ships. In an outbreak of fire and other damage.
* This is one of the companies played a leading role in the criminalization of the games that gave the last time the sailors, claiming the obvious, as the defense of labor rights and modern, cheap and safe ferry, which will meet the transport needs of the people.
* The representative of “crying”, as witnessed through the courts and televisions for … “blow” received tourism by seafarers action. At the same time, of course, except all the others, converting into elusive dream for the average family a trip to the ships, has eject the ferry economy class ticket from Piraeus to Ikaria, a rate 435% from 2001. For a trip to 7 hours on deck, ie a plastic chair, the passenger has to pay 40.50 euros!
Since 2002 when the then PASOK government launched the legislative monstrosity 2932/2001, which began the gradual harmonization of Regulation 3577/92 of the European Union’s “liberation” (removal of cabotage) of cabotage, the problems that had previously inflated shipping and propagated. And indeed so much so that today, even before entry into full force regulation 3577, the situation in coastal shipping is a nightmare.
According to figures from the Ministry of Economy, Competitiveness and the Sea: From 42 passenger ferry boats, which is currently routed through the ports of Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrion and connect the islands with the bulk of Greece, carrying the bulk of passengers, 14 (ie 33.3%) have a year of construction between 1972 and 1979! But 14 is 10 years old last year and have built between 2000 and 2007 and the other is 20 years ie from 1980 to 1999 (even only one of them has a boat in ’99 year of construction).
The situation is much worse than it ships out endonisiotikes transport and trucks – ferries and tankers operating ferry voyages. In 2009 (according to the NSS) reported 392 ships over the age of 30 years!
However, injuries and accidents are even ships that are younger, to prove that it is yposyntirita .
These calculations are indicative only and items, but mostly the same everyday life as hopeless and experienced islanders, sailors and workers in total, completely refuting the argument that competition policy and competitiveness and Release of sea transport would bring many modern ships in the shipping and threw the prices on tickets. The argument is, used by the PASOK government, pressing even at 80 dead in sinking of the “Express Samina”, to vote in the 2932 Act in 2001. The dangerous “work” the PASOK government augmented the Southwest, which, going further in 2006 abolished the age limit to ferry boats!
Dangerous … In the same scale of the “cost” and enter what new ships chartered, after an adequate and comprehensive maintenance can be considered unattractive by their owners.
As for whether it has expanded the fleet, again according to ministry figures, while this year’s summer from the three major ports in Greece (Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrion), leaving 42 ships last year was 47 in 2008 was 49. In 2002 it was 56!
Also characteristic is the example of ships operating in the islands of the Saronic Gulf. 2002 was 32 this year left 17! Indeed, most of them are hydrofoils and have an average age of 30 years!
It is clear that the owners have brought not only ships, but to crawl their profitability continually reduce the ferry fleet, condemning the islands and throwing sailors unemployment.
It is also significant that the period 2008 – 2009 boat 17 moored boats and three of them went off the fleet, flying more than 2,000 sailors in unemployment. And this happens while the whole island isolated from the mainland and even months, what it means to serve the islands on health issues, etc.
Athena PASTA
pinch TV
18-8-2010
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