The city of Venice has now finally confirmed that it will bow to pressure from the numerous protests held by residents and environmentalists alike, by preventing Mega Cruise Ships from the grace of sailing past St Mark’s Square.
The ban on vessels of 40,000+ tons for passing through the all important Giudecca Canal (in and out of port) will commence as from January 2014, which will ensure a 20% reduction in traffic. Thereafter, the Mega Cruise Ships (96,000+ tons) will be completely banned from the famous Lagoon of Venice,
as from November 2014.
In the region of 1.77 million Cruise Passengers utilized the home port of Venice in 2012, and the volume of Cruise Tourism to Venice increased progressively over the past 20 years.
A special commission was set up in Venice to analyze concerns raised with respect to the damaging impact of Cruise Ship traffic within the waterways of Venice.
There is a Plan B however, as the PM of Italy himself announced, there are plans to open up a new Canal route to the city of Venice, which effectively allows Mega Ships to enter the city through a back door Canal, although denying Cruise Ship passengers of the majestic views passing by St Mark’s Square from the upper decks of the ship.
Only time will tell as to what happens from here!
Much publicity was generated in July 2013 when the Carnival Sunshine was accused by protesting local residents of unsafe manoeuvres when entering the Giudecca Canal. They also claimed that the Mega Ship was just 70ft from the shore and almost destroyed a water-bus.
Clearly the winners here in the short-term at least are local residents, environmentalists and Government officials that campaigned on a platform based on sustainability and environmental grounds.
Clearly the winners here in the short-term at least are local residents, environmentalists and Government officials that campaigned on a platform based on sustainability and environmental grounds.
On the other side, the losers are the Cruise Lines, their passengers and potentially Tourism as a whole in Venice, because the influx of Cruise Tourists to Venice is far too great to ignore. A main highlight of the entire Cruise itinerary embarking from Venice was the magical passage through the Giudecca Canal and sight of St Mark's Square.
To conclude, the Port of Venice is the default embarkation home destination of the Adriatic Gateway for the Cruise Ship Industry. No doubt the surrounding ports of Trieste, Ravenna and Koppa in Slovenia will now benefit as a result of the this latest development.
There is a Plan B however, as the PM of Italy himself announced, there are plans to open up a new Canal route to the city of Venice, which effectively allows Mega Ships to enter the city through a back door Canal, although denying Cruise Ship passengers of the majestic views passing by St Mark’s Square from the upper decks of the ship.
Only time will tell as to what happens from here!
