England-bound
More than 1,500 illegal immigrants were caught in Patras last year; every vehicle carrying them was impounded.
But while the port authorities are rigorous in their checks, plenty more migrants will attempt the journey. Over 80% of those entering the European Union now pass through Greece.
The typical route is in through the north-eastern corner of the country, across the Evros river from Turkey. They continue through Athens and down to Patras, in limbo until they pick what they hope is the right time to leave.
"I'm scared I'll die at any time because it's so unsafe here," one Afghan says while cowering on a disused railway track. "Nobody looks after us - there are no human rights in Greece. My dream is to go to England and I'll try every day to get there."
Many immigrants have made perilous journeys, but Greece is rarely their final destination
The influx of new arrivals here has made immigration a hot social issue and a key theme in the upcoming election. In last month's inconclusive poll, the virulently anti-immigration Golden Dawn party swept into parliament for the first time in its history, promising to lay landmines along the border with Turkey.
The party rejects the neo-Nazi label, but its leader has been filmed making Hitler salutes, and he recently denied that gas chambers were used in the Holocaust and said the figure of six million Jews killed was "an exaggeration".
During a heated TV debate on Thursday a party spokesman hit a woman MP in the face, prompting a warrant for his arrest.
Last month, Golden Dawn members rounded on a derelict factory in Patras traditionally used by immigrants for shelter. They threw petrol bombs and set fire to parts of the building, clashing with riot police. The incident was sparked by the murder of a Greek man, allegedly by three Afghans.
The victim's cousin, Thymios Koklis, says the attitude of Greeks towards uncontrolled immigration is hardening.
"We can't have so many immigrants - we don't even have jobs ourselves," he says. "The migrants are in a way the victims of this whole story. But I would blame the government that doesn't do anything to protect Greeks from the hordes who come here. We're very scared of them - people say they would take the law into their own hands."
Would he take the law into his own hands?
"If the state can't protect me, someone has to. Myself and my family," he says.
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