Anchorage is considered illegal boat behaviour by the European Maritime Safety Agency but unfortunately this condition is observed many times at the southern tip of the port of Piraeus in Greece. Reasons for this is to avoid the rent inside the marinas or because there is not such enough space for every port. Greece has the phenomenon to be developed and sustainable in Athens in Crete and in Rhodes and only these places are well known to the tourists. The result is the congestion of traffic on boats in the Saronic Gulf, – port of Piraeus. 
Picture 1. A characteristic situation of three illegal boats in anchoring position
The smaller boat operates constantly from the stern of the large boat. The illegal behaviour of this boat is called in and out. In and out in such high speed is dangerous for clashing with other boats and more on that at night the small auxiliary boat doesn’t have as such vivid lights so as to avoid collisions with other boats.
Anchorage position has danger for the port exit for many reasons. At night the anchorage boat has to have the lights on but is not sure every time that it will be seen by other boats who operate in the same area. Secondly an anchorage boat means fatigue for the captain and the crew so as to hold the boat. The wind and the current oblige them to make constantly maneuvers and there is a doubt whether the maritime men would have the strength for the navigation away from the port after all this. When the wind blows from the south the bow looks at south when it blows from the east the bow looks at east and so on.
Anchorage is also bad for the sea bed because it damages quite significant ares of photosynthetic minnows. The above photo is a few days before the wild fire at the second larger port of Rafina. In this fire people tried to escape from the sea to avoid the flames but the traffic at this port was also big and they were not all saved on this attempt.
The port of Rafina is an area adjacent to the green area of Mati where the pine tree pinus brutia is present. This tree is very flammable and should be banned from areas of residence. It caught fire very easily due to the heat and spread in large distances very fast.
Picture 2. An artistic depiction of the flammable tree which cost lives by wild fire at summer in Rafina – Mati Greece in July 2018.
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