Italian government blocks large cruise ships from docking in Venice
VENICE – Large cruise ships have now been banned in the city of Venice.
The reason is to protect the city’s ecosystem from the massive ships.
Starting Aug. 1, no cruise ships longer than 590 feet, taller than 115 feet or heavier than 25,000 tons will be allowed into the city that was built on a series of canals, The New York Times reported.
Cruise ships usually weigh more than 200,000 tons, NBC News reported.
The ban can even apply to large yachts.
The change came at the demand of both residents and environmentalists who had displayed flags that read “No big boats” recently. They also demonstrated during the Group of 20 summit.
“We have been fighting for 10 years and now this victory feels almost unbelievable,” Tommaso Cacciari, a spokesperson for the No Big Ship Committee, told The New York Times.
The Italian government started working on banning cruise ships from the San Marco basin, as well as the San Marco and Guidecca canals. But as of April, it had the condition that a new port was to be built for ships to dock at, a project that would have taken years.
This week, the condition was removed, moving the ban’s timeline forward.
The country still pledged to build five docks away from the lagoon at the mainland port of Marghera, NBC News reported.
But that can still take years because workers would have to dredge a canal to lead to the port.
Italy’s culture minister, Dario Franceschini, said the move was to avoid Venice from being put on the blacklist of “World Heritage in Danger” sites created by the United Nations UNESCO group.
Right now there are 53 locations that are in danger according to the World Heritage Committee. The only site in the U.S. on the list is the Everglades National Park.
Two years ago, UNESCO said that the cruise ships were causing damage to the city.
Not everyone is happy with the move.
Giovanna Benvenuti, a spokesperson for the Venice cruise terminal, said the measure will risk port workers’ jobs as cruise ships account for 3% of the city’s gross domestic product. There are about 4,000 jobs connected to cruising in the area, NBC News reported.
The Italian government said it would compensate those affected by the ban, but no timeline or financial amounts were given, according to NBC News.
