Venice cruises: say no to mega-liners

Venice, one of the busiest ports of the Mediterranean Sea, is going to refuse receiving all mega-liners. It was reported by the Italian edition Corriere della Sera. The famous city on water and the Italian tourist pearl suffers from active giant cruise ship traffic. Waves from the ships as well as its size, which suppress the fragile architectural ensembles of Venice, became a real pain of the city.

It's no secret that recent unstable environmental conditions off the coast of Venice were the subject of fierce debates. Some scholars have supposed that Venice will disappear from the world map in the next half century. One of the reasons of Venice distinction is giant liners. They create overexcitement in the local waters, raise the age-old layer of mud, on which stands the city, and represent a direct threat to the piles - pillars of Venice. Of course, in this situation the Venetians are not going to watch as their home town will slowly go under the water and decided to take action.

In order to save Venice from "mega-liner stress", the Venice port administration is considering opening of a special port for large ships outside the city. Alternative site is Porto Marghera port.

The main Venetian cruise terminal today is Marittima. It is located just 15 minutes away from the central square of Venice - Piazzale Roma. This port faced a sharp increase in cruise tourism during the past ten years. The number of cruises from 2000 to the current date has nearly tripled. Venice, which at the beginning of the century was the 10th cruise port in Europe, today is the 4th tourism port. In 2010 Venice hosted about 1.6 million passengers.

New measures may relate to the liners designed for 2,000 passengers and more. Among the companies that may have served outside Venice are AIDA, Holland America Line and Carnival.

Either way, relocation of the superliner port outside Venice is still under discussion.

Ilya Kalachev

Photo: Alesya Belaya

Date: 21/12/2011