Hellenic Coast Guard gets the last of ten boats donated by Greek shipowners

With a modest ceremony, the last four high-speed patrol boats out of ten in total, sponsored by the organization of the Greek Shipowners Union “SYN-ENOSIS”, officially joined the fleet of the Hellenic Coast Guard yesterday.

“A year after we received the first boat, today the circle of donation of the Hellenic Shipowners’ Association closes, since the last boat out of ten in total is included”, said the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy Mr. Giannis Plakiotakis, and continued: “You responded immediately at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to strengthen the operational capabilities of the Coast Guard. I would like to once again praise the long-standing contribution of the Hellenic Shipowners’ Association to the Coast Guard, the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy, but also to the homeland in general. I would like to especially thank the president of the Greek Shipowners Union, Mr. Theodoros Veniamis for his support in all this donation effort and of course to thank especially Mrs. Melina Travlou, the Angelopoulos brothers, the Captain Vassilis and Carmen Kostrantopoulou Foundation and Mr. Koumandaros for their very substantial contribution because their contribution is decisive in the guarding and protection of the maritime borders of our homeland “.

Mr. Plakiotakis referred to the reduction of migratory flows, noting that: “we have achieved impressive results and this is due to the fact that we have more coverage, we react faster and of course with the Coast Guard officers working with determination, courage and absolute respect for human life. This has brought very impressive results: 85% reduction in flows in 2020 compared to 2019.”

He also stressed that “the effort on the part of the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy in the direction of strengthening the operational means of the Coast Guard, continues. We have changed to a very significant degree the essence of the Coast Guard. We are talking about an organization that is modern, capable, efficient, with new tools and systems. I want to assure you that this effort will continue with even greater intensity. We owe it to Greek society, we owe it to the Greek people “.

“The Greek Shipowners Union, through SYN-ENOSIS, responded immediately to the invitation of the Prime Minister about 1.5 years ago, to strengthen the operational means of the Coast Guard, in order to address the immigration problem and protect Greece’s maritime borders in the sensitive region of the Aegean “, the president of the Hellenic Shipowners’ Association Mr. Theodoros Veniamis said in his greeting and added:

“For our Greek shipping family, it is a national duty to meet the needs of the Coast Guard and to offer the excellent human resources that staff the most appropriate and modern operational equipment for the performance of their demanding work.”

Finally, the head of the Hellenic Coast Guard, Rear Admiral Theodoros Kliaris, after thanking once again all the donors of the Hellenic Shipowners Association, for the valuable help and support they offer to the Coast Guard, stressed that: “The new vessels operate throughout the territory of the Greek maritime borders from Kalymnos, Kastelorizo, Ikaria, Kos, and Samos – in Mytilene, Lemnos, Chios, Mount Athos and Alexandroupolis and serve a wide range of operational needs of the Coast Guard, having significantly increased the operational strength and already the results are impressive, with the crowning achievement being the reduction of migration flows in 2020 by 85% compared to 2019. And this successful course continues in the first half of 2021 “.