While Greek shipping tycoon Thanasis Laskaridis and his wife Evi Lazou, a committed environmentalist, have put up their luxury superyacht Zaliv III for sale for $27,5 million, the couple have also committed considerable resources to another vessel dedicated to maritime research and the cleaning up of the Greek coastline.
Mrs Lazou is the chair of the AC Laskaridis Foundation which is funded by Mr Larskaridis the former president and CEO of the Lavinia Corporation. The foundation’s vessel, the 73-metre MV Typhoon, has cleaned more than 800 beaches and collected 80,000kg of litter since its deployment to Greece in 2019.
According to luxurylaunches.com, the AC Laskaridis Foundation bought the vessel in 2018 and refitted in Astander, Spain with a dynamic positioning system, as well as with equipment to fight fires and clean up oil spills.
It is a versatile vessel that has been used for research purposes as well as to carry out beach-clearance work.
The Typhoon, which also holds several landing craft, has been used to carry out archaeological research at the site of the Antikythera Shipwreck from which the famous mechanism was recovered more than a century ago.
It serves as a floating base for divers to explore the underwater archaeological site. Its positioning equipment enables the vessel to examine in detail any section of the sea bed.
The foundation employs up to 10 cleaners to operate from the Typhoon to carry out beach clean ups from the vessel. The vessel also tackles in-water marine pollution from detergents, fertilisers and sewage which affect water quality and deplete dissolved oxygen in the water.
