A comprehensive study on the rescue of the famous “wreck” in Zakynthos was presented this morning by a working group of the National Technical University led by Professor Dimitris Kaliabakos.

The event was attended by the Rector of E.M.P. Ioannis Hatzigeorgiou and the local authorities together.

The main directions of the study include the maintenance, highlighting and protection of the ship, the replenishment of the coast, so that the ship is not stressed by waves, the creation of a safe access zone and the creation of observatories through underground tunnels that will have an exit on the slopes of rocks around the coast.

Speaking during the presentation of the study, Professor Dimitris Kaliambakos, initially emphasized the cultural over the economic value of the Shipwreck and referred to the double goal of the study, namely the rescue and anti-corrosion protection and the safe visitation to the Shipwreck.

The presentation of the study included the following points, in which Mr. Kaliabakos made the necessary clarifications:

● Strong anti-corrosion protection of the Shipwreck.

“The wreck should be protected as if it were in the sea. We have left it unprotected for forty years. We should exhaust—and we exhaust—the latest technology in order to formulate a subtle but highly effective corrosion protection that will protect it not simply from a corrosive environment but at the same time from the constant sandblasting it receives where it is in the eye of the cyclone”.

● Reduction of the mechanical stress of the Shipwreck through artificial replenishment of the coast

” We will build and strengthen the defense zone that Panagiotis has with the small coast in front of it. The team chooses the mildest form of intervention, the replenishment of the coast in front of “Panagiotis”, which is also the most difficult in terms of design We are not going to tame the sea with the tools of a big technical project. to stabilize it there. Of course, two basic conditions are required. Our best minds made a great effort to build this solution, but this is not done without measurements. We bought equipment that will remain there by constantly improving the proposal.

● Traffic by sea

“at the present time the Wreck can be visited from the sea under conditions that satisfy internationally accepted safety levels. It is not a finding. First of all the geotechnical team fought rock by rock from all the slopes and behind the Wreck but also all over the bay were studied at the level of modeling that they could go even in extreme conditions but rock. We had a footprint where the big rocks fell. The same the rector with a very dynamic group of young scientists is dealing with the issue if a rock falls, what kind of wave is created and when it runs out to determine the safe zone. With the work of the three groups we propose a safe access zone to the wreck”

● The view from the upper part of the Shipwreck

” We have a difficult problem to solve. People are going overboard because they have an exciting experience, and our team understood from the beginning that if they didn’t find a real solution to this, bans alone wouldn’t do the job. So the hard problem that had to to solve is how you offer safe traffic to hundreds of thousands of people while leaving intact the wonderful landscape of the area and at the same time giving something more. point of the Shipwreck from which visitors can enjoy a completely safe and exciting experience of the area.This tunnel is essentially the museum of the life of “Panagiotis”. one has the opportunity to learn much more about what he will see as an image. The visitor will form an experience much deeper than a photograph.”

● Need to take measures even at popular observation points

“From our work there is a new danger that we have to take into account. We know the danger at the edge of the cliff but there is the particularly worrying fact that in several places on the high slopes and even in very popular viewing points they may present dangers and much more over the edge. This is an immediate problem and we will see it now.”

Then Mr. Kaliabakos clarified that “the procedure we propose is complete sandblasting of the wreck, sandblasting, cleaning and strengthening of the metal part of the ship. Then we propose anti-corrosion protection. A big issue is what we will do with the sides. In all probability the side pieces of the ship are on the shore. If they are in a relatively good condition, we will put them back in place so that the “Panagiotis” has the image it had before of protection by replenishing the coast and to take action high up before things get too bad.”

He also stressed the need for permanent protection pointing out that the proposal does not end at the end of the project and that a study needs to be drawn up on the limits of visitation given the dangers of overtourism.

The NTUA Proposal has a twenty-year horizon, while with continuous monitoring the time horizon can be extended. Mr. Kaliabakos stated that “any delay in the need to take measures puts the Shipwreck in immediate danger even next winter. Our proposal is that from the level of studies at the Polytechnic, there is no need and above all there cannot be a next measuring stage in most of the projects because a project is needed to understand what is happening. This project is by nature a design-build project because many things will come up along the way. The legislator has foreseen. The level of the Polytechnic’s analysis is sufficient to issue a tender for a construction study and this is our proposal”.

The estimated cost for the implementation of the study amounts to 3-4 million euros and the estimated time of its execution with the emergency procedure in order to overcome bureaucratic hurdles, is three months.