The law.
Tuesday the 27th of July 2021, the Italian parliament passed a law prohibiting ships larger than 25.000 gross tonnage, a length greater than 180 meters, or a height greater than 35 meters to pass through the Canale della Giudecca. That’s practically all of the big cruise ships docking in Venice today. Future cruising could be done only with ships that are much smaller than the floating skyscrapers that have zig-zagged the Mediterranean until now.
There was quite a bit of arguing and many thought the limit should be set to 40.000 tonnes. But the Minister for Cultural Heritage, Dario Franceschini was stubborn and insisted. The president of the Venice Port Authority, Paolo Costa, has declared his desire to ban the big ships from Venice repeatedly. And so have many other authorities… Not to mention the general public, the organized protesters, and the common fellow at the bar.
The protests.
The Protests against the huge cruise ships have been many. Various organizations such as No Grandi Navi, and Ambiente Venezia have protested for years with large demonstrations at the docks of Zattere and other places in Venice.
It’s actually quite funny seeing the demonstrators with their flags and banners while the cruise ship passengers wave their hands, saluting what some of them interpret as a friendly goodbye from the Venetians.
And the Venetians are actually in a seldom-seen agreement on this particular issue. It is not difficult to understand, even if the arguments sometimes are less convincing. Anyone who has seen one of these huge boats, some of which are twice as long as the full length of Piazza San Marco, can easily understand the problem. Venice is just not capable of hosting them.
In 2017 the “No Grandi Navi” organized a referendum. The question was: Would you like the big cruise ships to stay out of the lagoon? Totally unofficial and with no legislative power whatsoever, of about 20.000 votes, 17.894 voted yes.
The protests on the other side.
After the new law was ratified, many websites and newspapers had headlines like mixed reactions, or Venice divided, indicating that many in the floating city would rather keep the ships inside the historical city. That’s just not true.
It is obvious that those who have their outcome from tourism and in particular from the cruise ship business, are not happy.
Venezia 1937, the biggest cooperative for porters in Venice, would rather see the ban starting from late autumn, and not in the middle of the summer season.
– “… It’s a crime against the workers!” they stated in an indignant tone.
But apart from those who lose their jobs and income overnight, I can honestly say that nobody in Venice opposes the idea of stopping the mega-ships from passing on the Giudecca-canal. And it’s not actually overnight either…
The controversies have gone on for years, decades even. As far back as 2012, a decree prohibited all ships over 40.000 tonnes to pass through the Giudecca-canal. Unfortunately, the text was: “…this prohibition applies, starting from the availability of viable navigation routes…”, and of course, nothing happened.
The incidents.
On June 2, 2019, the MSC Opera, a cruise ship of 275 meters and 65.000 gross tonnage smashed into a smaller river cruise boat at San Basilio.
On July 7, 2019, the Costa Deliziosa, 294 meters, and 93.000 gross tonnage, almost hit a yacht and almost continued into Giardini when strong winds made her miss the trajectory at the right turn in front of the Doge’s palace.
In May 2018 Marella Discovery, 264 meters and 69.000 gross tonnages drifted out of control for half an hour in the Giudecca canal before the tugs were able to pull her away.
… And there have been many others.
The Major.
The Venice Major, Luigi Brugnaro, is a prosperous businessman, something he’s never tried to hide. In this particular case, he is the proud owner of 42 hectares (104 acres) of land right where the future Marghera cruise terminal could become a reality. To better explain how he’s involved, it is clear that 100 acres in a total area of almost 4000 acres aren’t much. But his land is right where the bridge to Venice begins, on your right-hand side… And it’s edifiable, that is, there’s nothing on it. Unlike most of the rest of Porto Marghera, his 104 acres is a Wasteland. As he is the man in charge, it is obvious that he sits on two different chairs, with conflicting interests.
To his defense, his financial decisions are in the hands of a blind trust (supposedly the only example of that kind of a solution for politicians in Italy.). Still, he could benefit quite a bit from a cruise terminal in Marghera.
And now, where do they dock?
The idea is to have them dock at the commercial harbor, Porto Marghera. From there it’s no more than a ten minutes ride by bus to Piazzale Rome, or thirty minutes by boat. It could be a reasonable solution.
It’s just that nothing is prepared. Even if we’ve been arguing for ages, and the protests from the Venetian public, national, and international authorities have continued, nobody has prepared for the transfer. So, as the ships arrive at Venice, the cruisers will have to look out over cranes and warehouses instead of the most beautiful city on earth.
Or maybe it’s not that big of an issue after all…
In Venice, the ships docked at the cruise terminal at Tronchetto, and that is not very different from a commercial harbor. You don’t actually see the center of Venice from there. All you probably see are the other cruise ships. Further away there’s the lagoon and that could be more pleasant than looking at the industries and factories at Marghera. But the difference isn’t all that crucial.
The transport is faster in Venice with the People Mover going from the port to the city every seven minutes. But a shuttle bus could be an acceptable alternative. The route from Marghera is fast and not very heavily trafficked.
Lastly, the ship offers every commodity and everything you need. Cruise ship passengers normally do not venture away from the boat. They don’t go strolling around the harbor to find something to buy or to eat. They stay on board for most of the time. And if they do, then Marghera or Tronchetto could be comparable.
Some figures.
The Ministry of Infrastructure has foreseen cruise ships arriving at the Venice passenger terminal in 2021. After the cruise ship ban, they have tried to calculate how the cruise lines will adapt.
- The total number of ships was predicted to be 248 ships, before the cruise ship ban (40% less than in 2019 caused by the pandemic.).
- Of these 128 are predicted to abandon Venice completely.
- 120 are predicted to accept the Marghera solution.
UNICEF
The whole of Venice, as well as the whole lagoon, is on UNICEF’s world heritage list. In June 2021, they said they would examine a proposal to put Venice on their List of World Heritage in Danger if the lagoon city does not issue a permanent ban on cruise ships docking there.
Unesco stated they would discuss the matter at their plenary session on July 16-31. It is not controversial to assume that this statement was the push that finally changed the many words into action. A month later, the government announced the new law.