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. |
| 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.
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| Clouds over Venezia, mass tourism is hitting the World Heritage massively - courtesy dpa |
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
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| MSC MAGNIFICA sailing through the Canale della Guidecca - still from a documentation, aired by SRF |
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| SEABOURN SOJOURN embarking at the Ponte Basilio - courtesy travelnews.ch |
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.
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| 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.”
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.”
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| 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.
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