Katakolon Athens Taxi Strike
Thousands of cruise passengers hoping to see the sights of Greece have been disappointed this week as striking taxi drivers blocked access to the port of Piraeus, as well as Athens Airport and the city centre, and many popular tourist attractions around the country. Strikers have voted to extend the two-day lightning strike called on Monday into today.
On Monday some 16,000 cruise passengers and many thousands of ferry passengers were trapped in Piraeus when 2,500 cabbies assembled at the gates of the port in protest of the liberalisation of their profession as demanded by the country's international creditors, the EU and IMF.
Similar protest action took place in the key Cretan port of heraklion, the Ionian port of Patras, Kyllini and Katakolon Taxi in the Peloponnese, all popular cruise ship calls. On Monday, traditionally the busiest day for cruise calls in Piraeus, MSC Cruises' MSC Armonia, with 2,300 passengers, was diverted from Piraeus to Nafplio (Epidaurus), while Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas, with 1,997 passengers, and Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Solstice, with 3,136 passengers, called at Chania in Crete. The Louis group's Louis Majesty and Cristal called in Piraeus, but suffered long delays. Princess Cruises' Ruby Princess and RCL's Voyager of the Seas, with a combined 7,000 passengers, dropped Piraeus altogether. The taxi drivers called the sudden two-day strike for Monday and Tuesday, only to vote to extend it indefinitely today with the warning they would continue with 48-hour rolling strikes unless the government revokes its decision to lift all restrictions on the number of taxi licenses issued. Condemning the action, Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos, said: 'The way in which this protest is being carried out is very bad, at a critical time for tourism, on which every Greek family depends, including those of taxi drivers.' The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises said in a statement: 'In the middle of the most critical tourism period of the past few years, taxi drivers have dealt yet another serious blow to the country's image.' However, with Greece trying to establish Piraeus as a homeport in its bid to raise an additional €1bn from sea tourism annually, the disappointment suffered by cruise passengers was nothing like the nightmare encountered by passengers using Athens International Airport. The blockade by cabbies at the airport has seen hundreds of arrivals having to lug their baggage up to four kilometres to get out of the facility. Since the strike, it's not only tempers that have risen in Greece. Temperatures have constantly topped 40 degrees C.