The Elefsina Shipyards are now upgrading their capabilities, so that more ships can come, which will also lead to new jobs, the Minister of Development said this morning Adonis Georgiadeswho, accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Development Nikos Papathanasis and the president of Onex, Panos Xenokostasperformed an autopsy on Tank No. 1, which was raised and the procedures for its restoration are starting.

It is also noted that in Tank No. 2, restoration and maintenance work is already being carried out. The Minister of Development said that at the moment there is a very big “storm” of work at the shipyard with the aim of the period between May 15 and 20, after years, for the first ship to enter the tank.

“With its two tanks, the shipyard is upgrading its capabilities as until today the ships came and were built at the dock” the minister emphasized and added that most of the ships that will come will also lead to new jobs for the local community of Elefsina.

“All these people who work here and who will be paid, will bring a renaissance to the local economy,” he emphasized. The Minister of Development thanked the mayor of Elefsina for believing in this effort from the beginning and supporting it together with the municipal council. “You deserve a large share of the success of this miracle,” he emphasized.

The ONEX Shipyards & Technologies group announced that the complete lifting of Tank No. 1 of the Elefsina Shipyards, was an extremely complex project due to the poor condition it was in, after decades of abandonment, in combination with its many-year stay at the bottom of the Shipyards’ facilities from 2018.

The full lift of the tank was completed on March 28, 2023, after two weeks of intensive preparation and planning, and the operation took a total of four weeks.

Soon, the rest of her maintenance, repair and upgrade program will follow, which is part of the overall plan for the modernization of the Shipyard.

The program to upgrade the facilities and operational capabilities of the Elefsina Shipyard is a milestone in the rise of the shipbuilding industry in Greece. As stated by ONEX in today’s announcement, a key collective parameter, of management and employees, remains the dedication to the effort to fulfill the vision of the regeneration of the Elefsina Shipyards, and their establishment as a regional center of innovation and industrial solutions of high added value, in Eastern Mediterranean. The recovery of such a complex and challenging shipwreck showed that nothing can stand in the way of the determination of shipyard workers in our country, it is pointed out.

The ONEX group congratulated Konstantinos Nizamis and the special team of the Greek Diving Center, the technical and engineering staff of the Shipyards as well as all the workers and executives who managed to overcome the adversities and achieve the impossible, the raising of Tank No. 1 of the Elefsina Shipyards.