Can Greece bear not having a research ship?
The Oceanographic Vessel O/K AEGIO
The land area of Greece is 132 thousand square kilometers. However, Greek sovereignty extends over four seas, the Aegean, the Ionian, the Libyan Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean with an area that can reach 400 thousand square kilometers. Greek maritime sovereignty is three times larger than mainland Greece. How well do we know the Greek seas and Greek seabeds? The answer is easy: Little to very little.
Why; Because marine research was almost never among the priorities of the Greek state. All pioneer countries have significant funding in their research vessels and research agencies for marine research across the globe. They know very well that marine research is an important foreign policy tool.
Neighboring Turkey does the same. In recent years it has invested in marine research infrastructure and the development of marine research. Today it has a rich fleet of modern research vessels. One of them, the 87-meter ORUC REIS is very familiar to us, since in recent years surveys are often carried out in areas that clearly belong to the Greek EEZ.
In the Turkish Research Fleet, Greece has to oppose the Oceanographic Vessel O/K AEGIO.
She was built in 1985, with a length of 51 meters and based on the designs of a warship. Greece’s response to the investigations carried out by Turkey at the time in the Aegean with the CHORA vessel and a little later with the SEISMIC. The phrase ‘You sank the Hora’ is indicative of the situation at that time.
The construction of O/K AEGIO then gave Greece a strategic advantage. Extensive refit and lengthening by 10 meters in 1997 greatly improved the vessel’s operational capabilities. Greece joined the important European countries for marine research.
37 and 25 years have already passed since 1985 and 1997 respectively. Until today, the AEGIO VESSEL, with a crew of 20 people, laboratory spaces for a research group of 21 people, with 180-200 days a year on research missions, has worked on hundreds of missions for Greek, European and international research programs in the Aegean, the Ionian, the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, the Black and Red Seas.
Marine research in Greece was built and developed on O/K AEGIO, three generations of Greek researchers were trained in marine research, the Greek research community brought hundreds of millions of Euros to the country. Even in the decade of economic and financial crisis, it offered the latest to the new generation of researchers. For 37 years, the O/K AEGIO has been the unique weapon of our country for investigations in all Greek seas and the best marine ambassador of Greece in the Mediterranean, Black and Red Sea countries.
But, despite the long-standing, honorable efforts of the Hellenic Marine Research Center (ELKETHE), the country’s national, public, marine research center, the 37-year-old O/K AEGIO will not be able to last much longer. All over the world research vessels are retired at 30 years.
After many years of efforts and numerous proposals of ELKETHE, in the fall of 2018 the then Asst. Minister of Research K. Fotakis secured funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the replacement of the AEGIO research vessel with a new, modern, research vessel. The relevant proposal was drawn up directly by ELKETHE and submitted to NBG before the end of 2018 with a total budget of 55 million Euros.
In April 2019, NGE approved the financing of the NEW HELLENIC RESEARCH VESSEL, the successor of the AEGIO VESSEL, with 75% of the budget, i.e. 41 million Euros. The contract between NGE and the Greek State was signed after 16 months, in July 2020, by the Minister of Finance Mr. Staikouras and the Deputy Minister of Development & Investments Mr. Dimas. The Greek State undertook to finance the project by 25%, i.e. with 14 million euros. NGE immediately after signing the contract paid the advance payment of 8 million Euros.
It has been 2 years and 6 months since July 2020.
From then until now Greece has allocated a few billion to buy frigates and is about to allocate as much more for corvettes. The new research vessel could have been envisioned as a reciprocating benefit to the purchase of these warships.
Between then and now the construction of the new research vessel could begin. None of that.
From then until now, the 14 million of the national participation is being sought. For two years now, they have become a ball between indifferent services, secretariats and directorates, between all sorts of competent and incompetent technocrats and small and medium-sized government officials without any hope and most importantly without any will for the implementation of the project.
In the meantime, the years that are lost in the wake of the 37-year-old O/K AEGIO who must, with every sacrifice, continue to operate all kinds of research missions and advertise Greece in all the seas of our neighborhood for at least five years. construction work on the new research vessel begins now.
* Dr. Dimitris Sakellariou is a Geologist, Research Director Scientific Coordinator of the “New Research Vessel” project / Inst. of Oceanography, Hellenic Center for Marine Research.