The Corinth Canal today, at the point of the biological treatment plant. [Socratis Baltayiannis]
Excavators working near the waterline in the Corinth Canal appear toy-sized from the cliffs above, where tourists still stop for photographs while restoration crews struggle to stabilize collapsing slopes that have kept the canal closed for much of the year since 2021.
At one worksite near the biological treatment plant, the canal now resembles a quarry, with terraces carved into slopes once cut vertically during the 19th-century construction envisioned by the late 19th-century prime minister Charilaos Trikoupis.
The canal shut after major landslides in January 2021 prompted geological studies and a €30.5 million restoration contract awarded later that year to AKTOR. The project, overseen by the Infrastructure Ministry rather than the canal operator AEDIK, was originally scheduled for completion within 24 months but has already received four extensions.
Infrastructure and Transport Minister Christos Dimas said in March that shifts would double and work would intensify so the canal could reopen safely by the end of June. But current expectations are that construction will pause temporarily during summer so tourist vessels can resume crossings and preserve toll revenue.
