Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, Vasilis Kikilias, asked for the reinforcement of the port of Piraeus with 50 additional Port Guard officers, as well as the return to the port of Rafina of 20 port guards who had been transferred to office positions.
“The mission of the ministry and the port guard is to serve our fellow citizens, to support them, to help them and to ensure security in the port. To ensure that ships arrive and depart in an orderly manner. The port guard is glorious and fights battles along our 18.5 thousand nautical miles of maritime borders. Of course, if there is a mistake somewhere or there is something that is reprehensible, that is where Justice has the say. But I think that in the problem of modern smugglers of drugs, weapons, immigrants, etc., the port authorities are fighting an incredible battle and I will support them horizontally and vertically in every effort they make,” he said.
Regarding the obligation of ferry companies, based on a Community directive, to use more expensive “green” fuels from May 1, resulting in the cost being passed on to tickets, Kikilias estimated that the government’s intervention to reduce port fees by 50% will ultimately result in Greek ferry companies not raising ticket prices, as they had previously announced and as will happen in the rest of Europe.
Especially for high-speed ferries “which already use green fuel and will not make any changes, there will probably be strong support from the Greeks,” the minister pointed out.
