Cruise ships in Venice, pressure on Rome

Venice - The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), whose power derives from the fact that it represents 95% of the companies in the cruise sector, is united behind the “Vittorio Emanuele III Canal” project as the solution to the five-year old problem of access to Venice for large cruise ships. The problem arose after the wreck of the “Concordia” in 2012 and the response in the form of the Clini-Passera Decree, which limited access for units over 40,000 tonnes gross tonnage in areas considered to be at risk, Venice being one of them.

As is well known, the decree was not converted into law, but a politico-industrial agreement limited the tonnage of ships that might call at Venice to 96,000 tonnes until the government found a solution to the problem. After four amendments from Italian government, two from the City of Venice, two from the Port and another two from the Harbourmaster’s Office, all with the resulting changes of orientation on the subject, no solution has yet been found, and ships continue to pass through the Giudecca Canal, opposite the Piazza San Marco, creating a sense of discouragement among the élite, energising the groups that oppose cruise ships in Venice, and depressing an industry that provides 4,300 jobs in Venice.

CLIA has made its position known after the Port System Authority of Venice submitted the results of its own studies to the Ministry of Transport this Monday, which support the Vittorio Emanuele III proposal as an alternative route to the centre, thus embracing the City’s ideas. And so we are still waiting on the decision from the Harbourmaster’s Office and most importantly, the final decision by the national government, which is now at the end of a parliamentary term.

In support of the Vittorio Emanuele Canal, CLIA commissioned analyses from three simulations centres: Csmart of Almere (Carnival Group), MSC’s in Sorrento, and the Force Technology Institute of Copenhagen (which is independent). The reconstruction of the Malamocco Entrance-Canale Petroli-Vittorio Emanuele III Canal route as far as the Maritime Station proved to be safe in all maritime/weather conditions, including the manoeuvre that is required to get from the Canale Petroli to the Vittorio Emanuele III Canal and back, which is feasible for ships up to 180,000 tonnes gross tonnage.

Francesco Galietti, the national director of CLIA Italy, explained that the proposal furthered Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro’s idea to build a cruise terminal in Marghera by 2019 for the larger vessels, but only as a supplement to the Stazione Marittima in the city centre. And it once again rejects the “De Piccoli-Duferco” proposal, which calls for shifting all of the cruise traffic to Bocca di Lido, transporting passengers to the city on smaller vessels. Because the logistics are too complicated for embarking and disembarking, this plan could reduce turning Venice into a mere port of call.

This would be too little for a port which employs 4,300 workers in 200 companies in the cruise sector, generates direct spending from companies/cruise tourists/crews of €283.6 million (65% of the total in Italy) and €170 million in associated industries, which is expected to bring a flow of 1.4 million tourists to the city (out of the 28 million that Venice receives every year), but which generates 3.5% of the City’s GDP, and produces 8% of the pollution in the city (data from the Regional Agency for Prevention and Environmental Protection of the Veneto, ARPAV), which decreases to 2% in the winter. This, despite the fact that peak pollution levels are in the winter, with February being the worst month which is when the major ships do not even come to Venice.