Skip to main content

Thank You 500,000 readers

Destination - Venice to ban big cruise ships from the Giudecca

In the future the Guidecca in Venice will no longer see the big cruise ships

Finally, the Guidecca in La Serenissima Venezia is closed for the larger cruise ships - no more passing through. After a long period of confrontation between supporters and detractors of the development of cruising in Venice, a compromise was finally reached. On Tuesday (Nov. 7th, 2017), the Italian inter-ministerial committee in charge of this thorny issue announced several decisions.

Queen Victoria gets a bad welcome in Venice
Feeling welcome? Cruise passengers look on as Venetians vent at a previous protest - courtesy ALAMY

The Guidecca a passway to the Stazione Marittima

Il Canale della Giudecca, which borders Piazza San Marco and gives access to the cruise terminal of the Doges city, will be banned for large ships. Up to these days all cruise ships sail through the Guidecca, litterally right through the middle of Venezia. As nice it is for the cruise guests on board their resorts ... it is for the Venetians as if you sail through the living room. A fun for the cruisers, but not for the people living in Venezia. further the ships motors vibrate, the exhausts which pollute the air, the moves of water caused by the screws ... all this has a great impact on the foundations of Venzia. They are accused of shaking the delicate foundations of Venice’s venerable palazzi.
Gondolas and water taxis will never again have to vie with big cruise ships for space in front of Piazza San Marco, when the decision of an Italian governmental committee will take place. In an unofficial referendum to ban the huge cruise ships more than 18,000 people voted at 60 polling booths set up by activists and 17,874 chose to eject the ships. This is one third of the population of Venezia.

Venice to ban big cruise ships from the Giudecca
Clouds over Venezia, mass tourism is hitting the World Heritage massively - courtesy dpa
The pleasure of tourists should never destroy a vulnerable destination, which is by the way a World Heritage.

Cruise ships above 55,000 GT will be banned

Units of more than 55,000 GT should even evacuate Venice permanently to stop in Marghera, on the other side of the lagoon. The ships will access it via the Malamocco Canal, which is used by the commercial vessels serving this industrial and port area bordering the city of Mestre. A project to develop a new terminal to accommodate passengers in Marghera was announced. Smaller cruise ships (less than 55,000 GT) will still be able to reach the current cruise terminal in Venezia.
The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, hailed the plan to ban the huge cruise ships as answering the requirements of residents, the lucrative tourism business, and conservation groups who have raised the alarm about damage to the shallow lagoon and canals.
“We want it to be clear to Unesco and the whole world that we have a solution. This takes into account all the jobs created by the cruise industry, which we absolutely couldn’t afford to lose, and we can start to work seriously on planning cruises”, Luigi Brugnaro said

Venice to ban big cruise ships from the Giudecca
MSC MAGNIFICA sailing through the Canale della Guidecca - still from a documentation, aired by SRF
Aside of the cruise ships, the ferries into the Adriatic are taking the Guidecca as well, this should not be forgotten by cruise guests that may protest because of being  "deprived" by the beautiful scenery they pass when leaving or sailing into Venezia.
Venice to ban big cruise ships from the Giudecca
SEABOURN SOJOURN embarking at the Ponte Basilio - courtesy travelnews.ch
An alternative remains open, however, that of direct access to the current terminal via the Vittorio Emmanuele canal, which bypasses Venezia but is not currently accessible by large vessels. For this to happen, major dredging would have to be undertaken. Studies will therefore continue to determine the options and their costs.

No Grandi Navi, Venezia mia futuro and other protesters

No Grandi Navi (No Big Ships), the protest group, which organized the June referendum published: “The declaration means nothing. They haven’t found a solution, there is no plan - basically, nothing will change. They say the largest ships will go to Marghera – but where will they put them?"
They say all of this will be done within four years, but even projects in Dubai do not get completed in that space of time.” Tommasso Cacciari stated.

Venice to ban big cruise ships from the Giudecca
Venzia and Marghera in the southwest of the Venetian Lagoon - Source: google maps
The Italian Government has set a transitional period of three to four years for the implementation of a final solution.
Tommasso Cacciari also fears the plan will do little to allay environmental concerns. “The pollution problem will still be there,” he said.
Marco Gasparinetti, founder of Venezia mia futuro (Venice, My Future), an activist group for residents said, “If you consider the work we need to do to keep Venezia afloat, including stretching the canals and restoring buildings, we now have a guarantee that for the next few years we’ll have money for this. When you dredge a canal you also carry out a kind of fitness check of the buildings, so you can intervene before they collapse - this is part of the ordinary maintenance that is crucial for Venice but which has been neglected for years.

Venice to ban big cruise ships from the Giudecca
Venezia, Canale Grande - Source: Huffington Post

Che sarà - Who knows

With regard to the size of ships, it should be recalled that following the local protests about the multiplication of large ships in the heart of Venice, Rome announced in 2013 that the size of ships that could use the Giudecca was to be limited to 96,000 GT, with a reduction to four times a day of units of more than 40,000 GT through this canal. But the decree to implement this regulation from January 2015 had been annulled by the Venice Administrative Court. Nevertheless, the cruise companies have voluntarily agreed to follow the 96,000 GT limit and reduce the number of stopovers. As a result, traffic dropped significantly from 1.8 million passengers in 2013 to 1.4 million this year - 2017.
It should be noted, however, that a move from the cruise terminal to Marghera may also, in the long term, lead to the return of larger ships to the lagoon. And passengers will have to be transported by train via the dam from Marghera - but this will be only a little inconvenience for the passengers, as Venezia has the chance to survive.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ocean Liners in Movies or Films at Sea (updated Nov 2017)

For liners and the shipping companies movies and films had been a top marketing tool Movies or Films and liners at sea, had been intriguing me since I have read about in my youth in LUXUSLINER - BILDER EINER GROSSEN ZEIT by Lee Server ( THE GOLDEN AGE OF OCEAN LINERS ). But earlier, mot only since my first crossing, I was keen watching movies with liners in it, and disapointed, which was an understatement, when I realized the films have been made in a set ashore in some movie "factory". That was after my first crossing.   by Earl of Cruise an essay in progress `Sabrina´, Humphrey Bogart in the office, while LIBERTÉ is sailing out of New York harbor - screenshot Ocean liners, especially those of the luxury category, had been the location of dramas, love stories, thrillers, suspense and catastrophies sinde film was born, or nearly. In this list, the most descriptions are taken from Wikipedia, as I guess no one can expect having seen all these films ... otherwise I w...

HISTORY - The CUNARD - WHITE STAR Liner rms QUEEN ELIZABETH (1938-1972)

Over years, in my early youth, the QUEEN ELIZABETH was shaping my mind for the perfect ocean liner, despite having made my first experiences with a liner onboard the HANSEATIC (1), ex EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND, ex EMPRESS OF JAPAN. When leaning at the rail of HANSEATIC entering the port, my eyes where every where and I wished to by a camera, I took all in. And when seeing the QUEEN ELIZABETH with my own eyes, the nice behaving young boy turned into a tomboy, that my grandmére was no longer able to tame ... I did draw quite a lot of looks, back then. I found, while on research, this article and thought it interesting publishing in my blog: written and published by John Sheperd at liverpoolships.org editing and comments by Earl of Cruise I ( John Shepard ) joined the CUNARD LINE in March 1962 as an Assistant Purser and sailed the QUEEN ELIZABETH throughout that year, before transferring to the Liverpool-based CARINTHIA in November, where I remained as Crew Purser for the next five...

HISTORY - ts / ss BREMEN and ts / ss EUROPA

Germany’s two luxury liners, BREMEN and EUROPA , have not only played an important part in their country’s mercantile revival, but have added also an immortal chapter to the history of transatlantic travel. Copy from Shipping Wonders of the World   From part 6 , published 17 March 1936 editing by Earl of Cruise ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: Shipping Wonders of the World/Bundespresse Archiv The PRIDE OF A NATION - the NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD quadruple-screw turbine express liner BREMEN . The keel of this ship was laid in June 1927. Her launch took place in August, 1928. In less than a year later, the Bremen made her first voyage to America, when she crossed the Atlantic from Cherbourg to New York in four days seventeen hours forty-two minutes, thus setting up a new record and gaining the coveted “Blue Riband”. During the passage the Bremen attained an average speed of 27.83 knots. ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: W ikipedia For the pop...

ss NORMANDIE 1935 - 1942 IX

s s / te NORMANDIE starting from cold Owners: COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE BUILDERS: PENH Ö ET, St. Nazaire, France   by Stephen Carey © , editing by Earl of Cruise   This document is almost exclusively about the engineering aspects of NORMANDIE , mainly on how to start her up from cold. If you are looking for photos of the passenger spaces, there is a plethora of them on the web, in Facebook groups - Admirers of the ss Normandie , ss Normandie photographic file , The French Ocean Liners / Les Paquebots Fran ç ais , ss Normandie , GREAT LINERS OF THE PAST & PRESENT , and others, Pinterest and in articles about NORMANDIE here in the blog, please see at the end of the article. Using "ss" for NORMANDIE is quite incorrect, as NORMANDIE was a Turbo Electric vessel and not a steamship, therefore NORMANDIE should be adressed as "te".   by Earl of Cruise te / ss NORMANDIE berthed in Le Havre, Gare Maritime May 29th, 1935 - colouring courtesy ...

Starting rms TITANIC from cold

rms TITANIC, 1911, Cold Starting WHITES STAR LINE Ltd., Builders: HALAND & WOLFF, Belfast by Stephen Carey, engineer, editing by Earl of Cruise rms TITANIC, 1911 © Stephen Carey   Table of Contents 1     Overview of machinery spaces 1.1        Boiler rooms 1.2        Coal bunkers 1.3        Propulsion engines 1.4        Electrical power generation 1.4.1            Main generating sets 1.4.2            Emergency generating sets 2     Lighting up the boilers 2.1        Steam line redundancy 3     Starting the generators 3.1        Auxiliary seawater pump and condenser 3.2        Starting an emergency gener...

HISTORY - HAMBURG-SÜD and the CAP express liner

The CAP express liners of HAMBURG-SÜD, CAP FINISTERRE, CAP TRAFALGAR, CAP POLONIO and CAP ARCONA, are known worldwide for their luxury, renowned service on board and grandeur. Their successors of the 60s, the CAP SAN vessels, have not been that elegant, but truly first class and were known as the "White Swans" of the Atlantic. by Earl of Cruise HAMBURG-SÜD´s SANTA TERESA in Santos - courtesy HAMBURG-SÜD Since its formation in 1871, HAMBURG-SÜDAMERIKANISCHE DAMPFSCHIFFFAHRTS-GESELLSCHAFT ( HSDG or HAMBURG-SÜD ) has evolved from a conventional freight and passenger shipping company into a global operating transport logistics organisation. Today, it ranks among the world's ten largest container shipping lines and is one of the leading providers in the North-South trades. T ill recently it was a member of the successful Oetker Group, one of the largest and best-known family enterprises in Germany. The heirs and owners sold HAMBURG-SÜD to the Danish MAERSK Group ...

ss NORMANDIE 1935-1942 XII - The Most Beautiful Ocean Liner Ever Built

For many, or should I say for "a great many" Ocean Liner Lovers, NORMANDIE is the most beautiful liner ever built. Me, I am among those aficionados.   NORMANDIE was technically decades ahead of time. The vessel got implemented technologies that would have been copied by others, who then claimed to be the first to have. Alternative facts are not a modern days invention of a certain chrétien and his backward oriented entourage ... NORMANDIE´s interior was the peak of ART DECO in France, and was, still is, the peak of chic. Never again any liner, or passenger vessel, except NIEUW AMSTERDAM had been designed exterior and interior that strict in the "guide lines" of the ART DECO (Link in German) movement - as ART DECO is "only" a movement and not a school like BAUHAUS . Therefore the style was in a permanent "move" and development. NORMANDIE, the perfect ocean liner, Le Vaisseau de Lumière, Le Deesse de la Mer - courtsey coloured by Dary...

HISTORY - FRENCH LINE - COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE, a review - Part II Belle Epoque

The COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE, known since the Belle Epoque as FRENCH LINE in the English speaking world (or TRANSAT or CGT), had its origins in 1861.  by Earl of Cruise E mperor Napoléon III. wanted strengthening the French primacy on the oceans and an adequate mail line for the French mail. The 1855 established COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE MARITIME of the Péreire brothers was the core for the new company. This company´s headquarter was, as any major business in France, situated in Paris, while the homeport of the vessels had been Le Havre for the North Atlantic and Marseille for the route to the Orient and Africa. Houseflag of COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE S.A. - soure: ebay "On   limited space, we put our country on display", a crewmember declared once. And no other line put in more of its national personality into its product than COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE . After the French - Prussian/German war of 1870/71 France had to sig...

HISTORY - Traveling with airliner LZ 129 HINDENBURG was the most luxurious airtravel

The real airliner LZ 129 HINDENBURG enabled the most luxurious airtravel for decades. Imagine, gliding through the air while the landscape or the sea below can be seen ... LZ 129 HINDENBURG marks the climax of airship construction. On May 6, 1937, the story of civilian airship ended in a tragedy. In Lakehurst, New Jersey, the largest flying object and has been with the similar sized LZ 130 GRAF ZEPPELIN II the most luxurious of all time. How this came about can be reconstructed logically, a series of fatal physics concatenations . The airship LZ 129 HINDENBURG marks the climax of airship construction. It was in its time the fastest and most exclusive traveling object between Europe and America. The challenges of the construction of the giant of the heaven were immense. by Earl of Cruise LZ 129 HINDENBURG, 1936, in Lakehurst - digital copy of a coloured cover photo, originally by Bill Schneider, published in Dan Grossman´s book ` ZEPPELIN HINDENBURG: AN ILLUSTRATED HI...

Germany and HAPAG - A Journey through History

HAMBURG-AMERIKANISCHEPACKETFAHRT ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT - HAPAG or HAMBURG AMERICA LINE is reflecting, as Germany, the LLOYD of Bremen, two times of rsing and two times of devasting downfall and a third rise. BORUSSIA , 1856, First Day Cover 1956 of Deutsche Bundespost - own collection Once Germany´s biggest shipping line HAPAG / HAMBURG-AMERIKANISCHE PACKETFAHRT ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT-LLOYD, merged with it former old Hanseatic rival NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD in 1970, to now HAPAG-LLOYD, had its peaks and downs, but rose each time on its own to new hights, without any state subsidies. As German mail subsidiaries did never cover the costs for purchasing or mainting the vessels ordered for the specific German mail lines.   by Earl of Cruise In this article I used most German Wikipedia links, as they proved to be mostly of better research quality, and surprisinf to me, some English lines and liners have only German written articles, for the others, English Wiki links are to ...