Seamen’s strike prompts 10,000 cancelations

A 48-hour strike by the country’s seamen, which continued on Wednesday, has prompted more than 10,000 ferry passengers to cancel their tickets and another 3,000 to change their dates of travel, Skai understands.

According to sources at shipping firms, ferries departing from Piraeus and other ports on Thursday and Good Friday, ahead of Orthodox Easter on Sunday, will be close to 100 percent full.

Workers on roll-on-roll-off ferries serving the Rio-Antirio route between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese peninsula joined the second day of the Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO) on Wednesday with a walkout from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and were to hold another work stoppage from noon to 1 p.m.

The strike, which has been held to protest the impact of the government’s austerity drive on seamen’s pensions and benefits, has fueled the exasperation of hoteliers and traders who had hoped to make up for sluggish business in Orthodox Easter week.

Ekathimerini.com