A minority of residents in Venice have long been opposed to the cruise industry’s operations in their city. The Concordia accident on the other side of Italy in 2012 didn’t help. Last November the city council announced a ban on ships over 96,000gt from sailing down the main channel to the cruise terminal. It was supposed to go into effect November 2014. 4 months later in March, and with 8 months to go until the ban took full effect, a court struck down the city ruling and effectively overturn the ban. At the same time we suggested the below as an option.
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Current Route ~7mi |
Proposed Route~11nm |
Right now, Italian ministers are currently meeting to determine a solution to the problem that will hopefully please both parties. It appears to be a combination of the two pictures above.
A new route will have vessels enter Laguna Veneta via the southern breakwater [second picture] then sail up the westerly coast [second picture]. This is the current route used by tankers and container vessels.
The new route then cuts across to the bay to the terminal [first picture.] In this scenario, more dredging and environmental studies will need to be done to allow cruise ships to sail across the shallow bay.
The pro in this case is that the cruise lines get their way and allow the ships to still berth in Venice. The big down side is that guests will no longer be able to enjoy sailing down the main channel in Venice from their ship.
The first step in this, the environmental study, was just launched.