Neorion is one of the oldest Greek heavy industries, located in Ermoupolis, on the Greek island of Syros. Today, it is one of the few remaining major industrial corporations in what used to be the industrial and commercial center of Greece, before being eclipsed by Piraeus in the late 19th century.
Neorion roots go back to a traditional shipyard on that island, known for the construction of ships and boats for use during the Greek revolution of the 1820s, as well as design and building of various types of ships for the new Greek kingdom in the decades that followed. The company was officially founded in 1861 to technically support the "Greek Steamship Company", initially employing, in addition to Greek technical staff and several mechanics from Western Europe.
During the 1860s, in addition to ship building, it produced steam engines, boilers, pumps, and heavy cannons. A heavy steam engine of its own design and construction was exhibited at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1878. In 1893, the company produced its first metal steamship (the Athena ).
In 1898, the name "Neorion" (an Ancient Greek word indicating a port facility for ship repair and construction) was adopted.
During the second half of the 19th century, it was one of the most important Greek heavy industries, at times second only to the Basileiades machine works in Piraeus. Other Neorion products included a variety of machinery (some of it exported), engine parts, and specialized metal constructions for the Greek industry.
In 1997, Neorion acquired another shipyard, Elefsis Shipyards, while it diversified into new fields such as the construction of luxury mega-yachts and subcontracting work for aerospace companies. The company is currently organized as the Neorion Group.
In 1972, under the ownership of the Greek millionaire Giannis Goulandris Neorion incorporated Enfield Automotive, originally a British company, owned by Goulandris, involved in the design and construction of electric cars. This led to the establishment of a new company that undertook vehicle production, "Enfield-Neorion E.P.E.", headquartered in Piraeus, and production of the cars (which had been designed in the UK by British and Greek engineers) was transferred to Syros.
A Greek designer, Georgios Michael (later credited with the design of several Greek vehicles) was employed with the new company. A "jeep-type" version designed by Michael, the E 8000 Bicini, was also introduced in 1973. A little more than 100 were built, including a few Bicini's and a version of the latter for use in mining facilities. However, none could be sold in their domestic market because of Greek government regulations. All the vehicles were exported, mostly to the UK.
Development was also undertaken for a luxury limousine with a strong 4x4 character. [1] The Neorion Chicago was introduced in 1974. Only two complete vehicles were constructed and sold before the entire venture was terminated in 1976. [2]
Transport in Greece have undergone significant changes in the past two decades, vastly modernizing the country's infrastructure and transportation. Although ferry transport between islands remains the prominent method of transport between the nation's islands, improvements to the road infrastructure, rail, urban transport, and airports have all led to a vast improvement in transportation. These upgrades have played a key role in supporting Greece's economy, which in the past decade has come to rely heavily on the construction industry.
Syros, or Siros or Syra is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is located 78 nautical miles (144 km) south-east of Athens. The area of the island is 83.6 km2 (32 sq mi) and it has 21,507 inhabitants.
The Enfield 8000 is a two-seater battery-electric city car, introduced in 1973 and developed in the United Kingdom by Enfield Automotive, owned by Greek millionaire Giannis Goulandris. The car was designed by a group of Greek and British engineers headed by Constantine Adraktas and production, immediately after its introduction, was moved to the Greek island of Syros. 120 cars were built in total, of which 65 were used by the Electricity Council and electricity boards in the south of England.
Ermoupoli, also known by the formal older name Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis, is a town and former municipality on the island of Syros, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Syros-Ermoupoli, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is also the capital of the South Aegean region. The municipal unit has an area of 11.181 km2.
SS Heraklion was a roll on/roll off car ferry operating the lines Piraeus – Chania and Piraeus – Irakleio between 1965 and 1966. The ship capsized and sank on 8 December 1966 in the Aegean Sea, resulting in the death of over 200 people.
Alta was a Greek manufacturer of light and heavier three-wheeler trucks, motorcycles and passenger cars. Production of motorcycles and three-wheeler trucks with Sachs 50cc engines started in its first factory in Athens in 1962. The 50S motorcycle model was known for its reliability. In 1967 it designed and developed model A700, a heavier three-wheel truck with 2-cylinder BMW 35 hp engine and a payload of 800 kg. The truck, featuring a pleasant design and high reliability became one of the most successful vehicles of its kind in Greece. In 1968 Alta introduced a three-wheel passenger car, model A200. Powered by a Heinkel 200cc engine, the car was based on the German Fuldamobil, but with Alta's own body design. The company moved production to a new, larger factory in Elefsis where it operated until 1978.
Basileiades was one of the most historic Greek machine building companies and the largest in its field in the country during the second half of the 19th century. It was founded in Piraeus in 1859, and along with similar companies like Ifaistos and Kouppas in the same city, Neorion in Syros, Vlahanis-Petropoulos in Athens, Glavanis-Kazazis in Volos and others founded in the 19th century, mark the contribution of the machine building sector in the Greek Industrial Revolution. The company has also been one of the largest shipyards in Greece, especially during the first half of the 20th century.
Agricola was a Greek maker of 4x4 multi-purpose trucks and other farm machinery based in Thessaloniki. The Agricola 25 GT 4x4 truck was a fairly advanced design introduced in 1975, with enhanced all-terrain capabilities, a metal cab and Mercedes-Benz 180D Diesel engine. It was a typical Greek multi-purpose truck with a payload of 1,650 kg (3,638 lb) and a maximum speed 80 km/h (50 mph). The cab was designed by Georgios Michael, designer of other Greek vehicles including the Neorion Chicago and the MAVA-Renault Farma. The vehicle was produced until 1984.
The history of AEKKEA, an aircraft maker based in Greece, is connected with the history of a talented German aircraft designer, Antonius Raab.
MAVA Company was the Greek importer of Renault automobiles. In 1979, it decided to enter the car-production business introducing a passenger-utility car, a type then very popular in Greece for tax cetagorization reasons. MAVA assigned the creation of the car to Georgios Michael, a Greek designer credited with the design of Neorion Chicago, as well as that of several other Greek vehicles. Michael and his team completed the development and prototype construction in record-time and the car, named Farma, was introduced the same year. MAVA had insisted that the car should be presented as a "Renault model" and thus the prototype was tested and approved by the French company. The Farma, accordingly bearing the Renault logo, was produced in a variety of versions, including "passenger" and "van" types. It had a 4-cylinder 845 cc 34 hp (25 kW) engine and could reach a top speed of about 110 km/h (68 mph). A total of 4500 were built, including the "pure jeep-type" Σ model introduced in 1983, and some minor face-lifts. The attractive car had also received a modest publicity in the European press. By 1985, the Greek law had changed affecting the market for this type of vehicles, thus making their production unprofitable. Michael and his team then worked on a new model; the much more advanced new Farma Change was introduced in 1985. By that time, though, MAVA had scrapped the whole project and only one car, the prototype of the new model, was built.
Elefsis Shipyards is a Greek shipbuilding company, also involved in other industrial constructions. Founded in 1968, it has constructed many types of ships, including the largest bulk carriers built in Greece and military ships. The latter include the Jason-class Tank Landing Ships (LST) developed by Elefsis Shipyards, a series of Fast Attack Crafts and the largest ship of the Greek Navy.
The Greek Steamship Company was the first steamship company in modern Greece. Established on the Aegean island of Syros, the company provided transportation links within Greece and to Europe and the Middle East. Eventually, as Syros prosperity declined, the company went out of business.
For the theatre in Harlem, see the Apollo Theatre
Enfield Automotive was an electric car manufacturer founded in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. Under the ownership of Greek millionaire Giannis Goulandris, production was moved to the Greek isle of Syros during the oil crisis of 1973, although the vehicles were, according to one report, sent back to be assembled on the Isle of Wight..
MS Spirit of Tasmania II is a super fast ropax ferry owned by TT-Line Pty. Ltd. and operated on the route between Melbourne and Devonport. She was built in 1998 by Kvaerner Masa-Yards at Turku New Shipyard in Finland for Superfast Ferries as MS Superfast III. From 2002 onwards she sails for TT-Line Pty. Ltd. as MS Spirit of Tasmania II.
The Neorion Chicago, a 1974 product of the Greek Neorion group of companies, was a car that was to combine uncompromising luxury, retro-looks and a powerful 4x4, cross-country character.
Blue Star Chios is a high-speed ro-pax ferry of Blue Star Ferries, built, along with its sister ship Blue Star Myconos, at Elefsis Shipyards. It was an old wishfulness of Gerasimos Strintzis. In February 2006 the first pieces of the ship were loaded at Skararamangas and were transported to Elefsis Shipyards and in November 15, 2006, construction was launched at Elefsis Shipyards. It was delivered in June 2007. Its construction was completed in a very short time. The name of the ship means in Greek "Island of Chios", which is one of the islands of North Aegean.It was, when launched, the newest Greek ship with frequent travels. In January 2020 Nissos Chios be renamed Blue Star Chios with its sister ship Blue Star Myconos There was a 1967-built Greek passenger-car ferry with the same name. The old Nissos Chios was broken up in 2006.
Blue Star Myconos is a ferry owned by Blue Star Ferries that currently operates most commonly on the Piraeus-Syros-Mykonos-Samos-Chios-Mytilene-Kavala route. It is driven by four main engines Wartsila 12V38 Diesel and it uses to go at over 25 knots and this faster than all other big ferries that serve Cyclades Islands and North Aegean. The ferry is a sister ship to Blue Star Chios.
Athena was a 50 m long passenger steamship built in 1893 at the Syros Shipyards. It was the first metal steamship built at this shipyard, and it represented an example of the brief growth of Greek shipbuilding in the late 19th century, before its decline in the next decades. The ship was powered by a steam engine built by the Ifaistos machine works in Piraeus, the second largest machine builder in the country at the time; Ifaistos was founded by John McDowall, a Scottish entrepreneur who had worked in Greece and had obtained Greek citizenship, and was the main builder of ship steam engines in Greece. This ship sank in 1946 in a tragic accident that claimed the lives of Jewish refugees.
Blue Star 1 is a Greek ferry, which is part of Blue Star Ferries fleet. She is a motor Ro-Ro/Passenger ferryboat, built in 2000 by Van der Giessen de Noord shipward in Krimpen aan den IJssel, Netherlands. She is a sistership to Blue Star 2. She holds a total of 1600 passengers and 640 vehicles and has 430 beds in 161 cabins for passengers. She has four MAN B&W 8L58 / 64 diesel engines, with combined power of 44,480 kW and reaches speeds of up to 27 knots.
 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Companies |
| ||||
| Related topics | |||||