A leading Piraeus shipbroker involved in the process tells Shippax almost two weeks after the government announced as a top priority it would charter at least one ro-pax to house a minimum 1,000 of the some 4,000 refugees driven from shelter after fire ravished their camp on Lesvos no vessel has been chartered.

September 28 it was estimated over 14,000 refugees were stranded on Eastern Aegean islands as more and more people made the dangerous passage from the coast of Turkey to Greece, mainly to the islands of Lesvos and Chios.

In Lesvos there were 5,500 refugees crowded into facilities only meant for 3,500, while in Chios there were 3,684 in facilities meant to accommodate 1,100 people.

The broker said that in fact the Shipping ministry did not call for a general bid as it said it would in the wake of the Lesvos fire September 20, but "approached individual companies in a very haphazard way".

The one-month charter was set to start on September 21 with an option for a further one-month extension. The tight deadline was spurred by the chaos in Lesvos in the wake of the fire plus a call by seafarers to strike for 48 hours strike from September 22.

In just five hours of negotiation with two parties, a deal was reached with one, reportedly Piraeus-based European Management Maritime Co, which later in the day failed to turn-up to sign the contract. This led to a government announcement a new call for bids would be made September 23, but this did not occur and has not since, according to Piraeus sources.

Meanwhile, Chios, home island of some 40 shipping families, including some of the of the biggest names in Greek shipping -- Angelicoussis, Carras, Chandris, Fafalios, Frangos, Halcoussis, Livanos, Los, Pittas, Tsakos, Xylas-- could be left without air links to other European countries in 2017.

This is due to the negative image created in foreign markets from the migration crisis and could deal a fatal blow to the island's tourism.

Petros Fengoudakis, head of the island's hoteliers, says appears all flights from Europe to Chios are stopping, against seven links in 2015.