The Corinth Canal

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Feb 4th, '23, 09:01

A while back I had posted a pic showing the serious landfall that had completely blocked the Corinth Canal.

As a result, the canal was closed to boat traffic for months, had reopened just briefly for last summer and now it is closed again until the spring of 24 (with an opening interval in the summer of 23, as the bulk of traffic is during the summer touristic period), while extensive works are carried out on the western Peloponnese shore removing tons of brittle soil as well as creating and positioning inside the canal concrete pillars that will protect it from future erosion.

So, as there is no boat traffic this period, this video here shows an audacious swimmer who, despite the opposite current, undertook successfully the task of swimming the 6.3km canal this morning.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=y4g9SL6ekto&feature=share

Here you can see the canal and the works in progress:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=EL5I-KGQGnE&feature=share

pschauss · Post by **pschauss** » Feb 4th, '23, 13:58

Amazing!!!. I remember being fascinated by this canal when we studied it in Geography class.

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Feb 4th, '23, 14:37

What's more, Peter, is that this major soil removal and pillar planting triggered an overall plan, whereby all remnants of the ancient "diolkos", the paved route constructed in antiquity (580-590 bC) over which the triremes were placed on carts pulled by cattle over the canal, and of which some hundred meters here and there are still visible, with their wheel marks on the paved surface, will get a face lift and will be able to be visited. They are bringing to light a part of our naval history of 26 centuries ago, made possible by the Corinthian ruler Periandros, 150 years before Pericles constructed the Acropolis in Athens.

neil · Post by **neil** » Feb 4th, '23, 21:05

Thanks for sharing that,what a beautiful part of the world and history that I never would have seen,unless you postedo

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Feb 4th, '23, 21:37

Yannis

Really amazing. The beuty of the world never ceases to amaze me.

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Feb 5th, '23, 01:18

A few pics of the ancient diolkos, before the recent works:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... -13188.JPG

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... Pic_04.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... olkos2.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... Pic_01.jpg

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Feb 6th, '23, 13:15

...it's a long way to pull a boat, never mind a ship.

Thanks for sharing Yannis, very cool stuff! History is so much more interesting when brought to life with information like that. I had one history teacher like that. He made the pages come alive.

Rawleigh · Post by **Rawleigh** » Feb 7th, '23, 13:07

That is one heck of a cut! I cannot remember from when you posted before, but when was it originally dug? That makes the Suez canal look easy! Wouldn't want to make a mistake driving one of those trucks!!

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Feb 7th, '23, 17:50

Thank you gents.

Rawleigh,

The guys in the trucks are unreal. Worse than working in a circus...

The canal was dug in the 1880's and it is not as wide as the Suez. The tankers don't pass through.
Also, all boats over a certain tonnage have to be pulled by a tug.
There are two meeting areas, one on each side. All boats congregate and leave in a row together. It is a no wake zone, so assuming they cruise at 6 knots, they need a bit less than an hour to go through. Once they arrive on the other side and clear the passage, comes the turn of the others to travel the opposite route.

This article includes pics of the land slide of FEB 2018, which blocked the canal and triggered the works:
https://www.kathimerini.gr/society/9507 ... on-vinteo/

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Feb 7th, '23, 21:21

Just so everyone knows, if you are using Microsoft Edge as your search engine, it has a translation option that pops up. It does a great job translating this.

Yannis

This is a really interesting post. Beutiful area.

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Feb 7th, '23, 22:41

Tony,

Never crossed my mind you would need a translator to understand a simple article LOL !!!

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Feb 8th, '23, 21:44

Yannis

It was all Greek to me. LOL

Rawleigh · Post by **Rawleigh** » Feb 10th, '23, 13:21

Quite a rock slide! Got any pictures of the original construction?

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Feb 10th, '23, 16:06

You mean of the 19th century pics? I think I've seen some...soil carried with mules...Ill try to find them.https://www.thetoc.gr/politismos/articl ... korinthou/
https://gr.pinterest.com/pin/572942383828896530/ manually...
https://gr.pinterest.com/pin/626070785712985882/

these are representative. Look how we were dressed !

Rawleigh · Post by **Rawleigh** » Feb 13th, '23, 14:51

Wow, that is amazing!!

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Apr 24th, '23, 11:11

They have planted around 300 pillars out of the total of 1000, while they are filling the void with marble chips.
The canal IS NOT getting narrower as you can witness at some point in the film.
Works will soon stop for the summer season and they will pick up again around October, they plan to finish by Spring ‘24.
This is as far as the canal per se.
For the parallel works for the protection and reconstruction of the ancient Diolkos I’ll have to wait for the relevant link.

https://youtu.be/FjoOanHpJoU

pschauss · Post by **pschauss** » Apr 24th, '23, 16:50

Interesting video. Thanks for posting.

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Apr 24th, '23, 20:05

Like here, Government project go forward on their own timeline but get done…eventually and can be awe inspiring in their scope.

Looking good, thanks for sharing. I tried reading the sub-titles. But looked Greek to me.

I bet you never heard that Jolie before. Guess you know why I don’t bet.

Thanks for sharing, very interesting!

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Apr 25th, '23, 22:09

Yannis

Great video. Interesting approach to building a retaining wall to keep it from filling in.

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Apr 25th, '23, 23:07

If you travel on the highway from Corinth to Patras (the north side of the Peloponnese), you will see that all soil is like chalk - a whitish brittle kind of soil, like the type you see on the sides of the canal.

All this makes it very difficult for the construction of the new highway, plus the protection from mudslides, like it happened in ‘19 which blocked the canal for months.
So, they cannot fill in with this shitty soil, they bring marble chips from a quarry which doesn't turn into mud when you drop it in the water.

The wall of pillars is so that the boat wake doesn't destroy the banks anymore.

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Jun 6th, '23, 09:50

The summer is here! The works have stopped temporarily and the first ships go through the canal. Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/vQwLFSfvRfY

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Jun 6th, '23, 11:47

Damn...that makes a tight fit seem loose. Insane...

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Jun 6th, '23, 12:29

Carl, you ain't seen nothing, imagine 30cm on each side!

https://youtu.be/VUMtJz6LhTw

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Jun 6th, '23, 21:09

Yannis

How many bumps happen in a year. That is close, one false move and you are into the wall.

Why do they stop for the summer? With the good weather over there I figure they would work on it year round.

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Jun 6th, '23, 21:25

Tony,

I have not heard of any bumps!

They stopped because they now work inside the canal, in the water, installing those pillars. They have already installed 400, still have another 600 to go in the fall. The weather is not an issue.

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Jun 7th, '23, 20:13

My guess is bumps are not to be recognized, cheaper than going around.

Whatever the case, that is crazy tight I almost want to say no room for error but a couple bumps n bangs means little in the scheme of things.

Crazy tight

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Jun 7th, '23, 20:43

Glad I am not taking that thing through the canal.

Rawleigh · Post by **Rawleigh** » Jun 10th, '23, 10:39

Good way to ruin a paint job!!!!

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Jun 10th, '23, 20:15

Watch an ex-Canadian support warship, that also helped in D-Day.
The first mega yacht, much before the ones from Saudi princes and Russian oligarchs.
One that carries tons of history, a big chunk of which is American history.
You'll understand as the film rolls.
Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkcqZdS ... us63z4I%3D

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Jun 12th, '23, 21:10

Yannis

Per chance is that ship owned by an Onasis?

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Jun 12th, '23, 21:52

Yes, it's where Jackie used to cruise in the Med on!

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » May 8th, '24, 02:27

On April 28, two days before the official re-opening of the Corinth canal, the French "Belem", a 1896 three masted bulk carrier is transporting the Olympic flame to Marseille for the 2024 Paris Olympic games. This vessel has been chosen because it was launched the same year as the first Olympic games held in Athens, in 1896, and three years before the first opening of the Corinth canal in 1899...

https://youtu.be/P9srSl-aD8c?si=WhKknxPHUFAqElnrb

Carl · Post by **Carl** » May 8th, '24, 08:13

...nice, but it should have been a 31 Bertram to really make a point on how special the opening of the Corinth Canal is.

just saying

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » May 8th, '24, 10:13

In 1896 there were very few Bertrams built, at least in Corinth...LOL

Carl · Post by **Carl** » May 8th, '24, 12:18

LOL, very cool to see history in the remaking.

...even if not a Bertram 31.

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » May 8th, '24, 21:24

Yannis

Nice tribute. But I did not see the flame. They should have put it front and center or taken her through at dusk so it would have been visible.

Now that is something I would love to sail on. Beautiful ship.

I still can't get over that place.

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Nov 19th, '24, 11:57

The Canal is closed again for supplemental works. It will stay closed for the winter, anyhow traffic is reduced in the winter.

I watch the videos of this gentleman who spends a lot of time to monitor all the activities, and this last one was really remarkable.
You would think that in the 21st century all should be digital, right?
Well, take a look. This LATEST digital device carries all heavy stuff down the slope where the cars cannot reach.
They are carrying big compressed air bottles that they use to inflate big balloons that they slide in rock crevices.
As the balloons inflate they dismantle the loose rocks that fall in the water.

As you probably cannot understand the language, this happens half way through and at almost the very end of the video.
The digital apparatus will then carry all heavy stuff up to the vans and go to rest !

https://youtu.be/bM8-UUPGI4s?si=ax39egDVUo4uHGrB

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Nov 19th, '24, 12:25

Digital, my ass.

Pun Intended!

I am not sure that would fly well over here, but the process does work.

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Nov 19th, '24, 13:04

Carl,
Im not talking about the drone...

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Nov 19th, '24, 14:09

I meant the process would not be well received (would not fly) by companies trying to make time...trying to expedite the job.

I believe your were referencing the Digital aspect being the donkey, AKA- ass

pschauss · Post by **pschauss** » Nov 19th, '24, 14:46

Yannis,

Great video. Thanks for posting it.

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Nov 19th, '24, 21:26

Yannis

I like the Blue Van with everything written in Greek and then it says Rope Work on it. LOL I guess they do work in English Speaking countries also.

Some of those lines and supports don't look like they can handle some of the stress that is put on them. More power to those guys.