The Greek government has decided to buy eight catamaran passenger vessels to serve smaller Aegean islands whose residents complain they are neglected by Greece's large coastal ferry companies, Aegean Minister Nikos Sifounakis said yesterday. The vessels will cost between 140 and 150 million euros, which will come from the European Fund for Regional Development (40 percent), a European Investment Bank loan (30 percent) and the rest from the Greek State.

The ships will be able to travel safely in winds of up to 8 on the Beaufort scale and reach speeds of up to 25 knots. This will not only enable them to sail even when the weather is bad, but will also reduce travel times between destinations, Sifounakis said. They will be of the so-called SWATH (small waterplane area, twin hull) and Semi-SWATH type. Sifounakis presented a report by Prof. Dimitris Yiannopoulos of the Greek Transportation Institute, saying that these ships can help end the isolation of small islands at least for the next 15 years.

The ships will be operated by a new agency, run by a private concern or local authorities, Sifounakis said.

It will take about two years for the purchase to be finalized and another two for them to be built.

"We tried to solve a problem that the private sector was never able to solve," Yiannopoulos said. "Over the last two years we studied all the factors that constitute the problem. [These include] the islands' population density and the density of visitors through the year, both during the peak season and the difficulties of winter. We believe that the solution we proposed is viable."

Other countries have taken similar measures to serve their islands. For example, Britain has leased such vessels to private companies, while Denmark has given them to local authorities.

Sigma Coatings will be the official supplier of the 2,869 m long Rio-Antirio bridge which will connect the western mainland of Greece with Pelopponnese in 2004.

Praising the PC sales teams in Greece and UK, headed by George Terzakis and MikeTaylor respectively, Sigma estimate the current value of the project to E 650,000 and that the project could explode to a final value of around E 800,000.

The project includes coating systems applied on the main deck (133,000 sqm), deck w/ friction areas (15,000 sqm), areas in contact with concrete and HSFG bolted joints. While the first 3 coats will be applied at the Cleveland Bridge Factory where the deck will be constructed the company's Greek partner C. I. Saratopoulos will apply the touch-up and finish coats in Greece.

In addition, Sigma Greece secured two bridge towers and the pier heads of the internal platform (18,000 sqm) and the underwater pipelines (15,000 sqm).

A barrage of naval gunfire in the Atlantic, authorised by the French and Cambodian prime ministers, may have finally sunk one of the most controversial maritime developments of recent years - the "super flags of convenience" shipping registers run by tiny states in return for hard cash.

The Winner, a 32-year-old Greek owned merchant ship flying the Cambodian flag, due to arrive under military guard in the port of Brest on Thursday 27 June 2002, reportedly with two tonnes of cocaine on board was seized 700 miles south-west of the Canary Islands by the French navy in a joint operation with US, Greek and Spanish authorities.

According to official records it was carrying a cargo of iron bound for the Spanish city of Bilbao. But the ship, which had been loaded in Cuba, was apparently carrying cocaine with a street value of $230m (£154m). Sources involved in the raid said more may have been thrown overboard when the crew realised they were to be boarded. Some 20 armed naval commandos went aboard and took control, apparently without meeting further resistance from the Greek master, Georgios Boreas, 58, and his mainly Greek and Spanish crew of 11.

In Athens, the owners of the ship, Constantinos Seidis, 37, head of Piraeus-based Acropol Ship Management, and Aristidis Kotsores, 47, owner of Oriental Prestige shipping company, were arrested and charged with drug trafficking, setting up a criminal organisation and money laundering. In Quito, Ecuador, similar charges were brought against another Greek, Anastasio Kakasidis, 57, who is believed to have been present when the drugs from Colombia were loaded in mid-Atlantic on June 4, and a Spaniard, Avelino Gonzales. Police are understood to be looking for a third man, Rubven Caleguilos, a Chilean national.

Seidis was first placed under surveillance in March 2001, after the Greek drugs squad received a tip-off that he was to provide a ship to Spanish cocaine smugglers. The ship, named Breve, eventually sailed for Spain, but broke down and the plan was abandoned.

In June 2001, Seidis and Kotsores formed an offshore company that bought a freighter called Amir. Renamed Winner, it sailed from Romania last month for Cuba with a scrap metal cargo. On May 26, Greek Georgios Boreas, 58, and Cypriot Symeon Theophanous flew to Cuba and replaced the ship's captain and engineer. The Winner left on May 29, and took on the drugs from another ship late on June 4, 400 miles east of the Caribbean islands.

After the dramatic boarding operation, the Cambodian government has announced a clampdown on the "reckless" behaviour of its private enterprise ship registry.

Cambodia's online flag of convenience, launched in 1994 by a private company in Singapore, appears to make few checks on shipowners and has been at the centre of a string of allegations that it's flag can be used by unscrupulous operators, drug-smugglers, and even terrorists, according to an investigation by The Guardian newspaper.

The US Coast Guard already lists ships carrying the flag of Cambodia as of special interest, identified by the National Security Council as a potential threat to national security while within US waters.

A spokesman for the International Transport Workers' Federation (known as ITF) said: "The world should join us in demanding that Cambodia shut down this sleazy and pestilent offshore registration."

Cambodia's rise followed the emergence of a rash of similarly exotic flags, ranging from that of the tiny Pacific island of Tonga - now closed down - to the landlocked South American state of Bolivia.

Under international law, every ship must sail under the flag of a sovereign state. Flags of convenience, like offshore companies, offer owners the chance to register in countries offering tax regimes that are lax or non-existent. Labour can be procured from anywhere in the world, and there are few regulatory requirements, making it almost impossible for receiving ports to find out who owns the ship or to control conditions on board.

Cambodia's prime minister, Hun Sen, also gave French authorites permission to intercept the Cambodian ship in international waters. "We are victims because the company recklessly allows ships to use the Cambodian flag without proper inspection or control," said Hor Namhong, the foreign minister, adding: "The company will be audited by the government."

Cambodia Shipping Corp. has denied claims it is reckless. "We do not cover for organised crime but the authorities are welcome to inspect us," a spokesman told Agence France-Presse earlier this year. Yesterday a spokesman for the registry's Singapore-based headquarters told Lloyd's List it would not comment on the Winner's seizure, but would issue a statement soon.

The Cambodian registry was set up in 1994 and marketed as a faster, cheaper alternative to traditional flag of convenience states. According to the shipping magazine Fairplay, the firm is owned partly by the Cambodian royal family and partly by a North Korean diplomat.

The registry has more than 450 ships on its books, with owners attracted by easy internet access, low registration costs, lax rules and aggressive marketing. According to reports, ships flying the Cambodian flag have been stopped off Crete and Albania for cigarette smuggling, off Japan and Crete for human trafficking and in the Arabian Gulf for allegedly smuggling oil from Iraq.

Safety is also an issue: since 1995 at least 25 Cambodian ships have been wrecked or stranded. There have also been 41 collisions, nine fires and 45 arrests.