The Corinth Canal

[Yannis]

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]

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

[Yannis]

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]

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

[Tony Meola]

Yannis

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

[Yannis]

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]

...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]

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]

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]

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]

Tony,

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

[Tony Meola]

Yannis

It was all Greek to me. LOL

[Rawleigh]

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

[Yannis]

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]

Wow, that is amazing!!

[Yannis]

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]

Interesting video. Thanks for posting.

[Carl]

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]

Yannis

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

[Yannis]

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]

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


https://youtu.be/vQwLFSfvRfY

[Carl]

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

[Yannis]

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


https://youtu.be/VUMtJz6LhTw

[Tony Meola]

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]

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]

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]

Glad I am not taking that thing through the canal.

[Rawleigh]

Good way to ruin a paint job!!!!

[Yannis]

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]

Yannis

Per chance is that ship owned by an Onasis?

[Yannis]

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

[Yannis]

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