Venice, from August 1 stop to large ships in San Marco

As of August 1, no more large ships will enter San Marco in Venice. The Council of Ministers has in fact “adopted” (so the official notes) the decree that, on the basis of the Code for Cultural Heritage and Landscape, places the declaration of national monument on the urban waterways St. Mark’s Basin, St. Mark’s Canal and Giudecca Canal in Venice. As of Aug. 1, 2021, the council of ministers points out, the transit of ships with at least one of the following characteristics will be prohibited: gross tonnage greater than 25,000 tons; hull length at waterline greater than 180 meters; aerial draught greater than 35 meters, excluding ships with mixed sail-engine propulsion; and use of fuel in maneuvering with sulfur content of 0.1 percent or more.

“Blocking the transit of Large Ships in the Lagoon by the end of the legislature,” comments Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, “was a commitment I had made publicly. Lintervento has become improcrastinabile, at least with regard to St. Mark’s Basin and the Giudecca Canal, on the eve of the forty-fourth enlarged session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which will discuss, among other things, the state of conservation of the site of the historic city of Venice and its Lagoon. The government wanted to give strong acceleration to a decision already taken, with the call for external landings, to avoid the real risk of the city’s inscription on the endangered world heritage list. The measure exceeds Unesco’s own prescriptions, limiting traffic to ships of less than twenty-five thousand tons, and establishes an unbreakable principle, declaring the urban waterways Bacino di San Marco, Canale di San Marco and Canale della Giudecca in Venice a national monument.”

The decree, in addition to establishing compensations in favor of shipping companies, the port terminal operator affected by the ban on transit, companies holding contracts dappalto activities included in the operational cycle of said operator, and workers in the shipping and logistics sectors related to the transit of ships in the urban waterways, appoints the President of the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea of Venice as the Extraordinary Commissioner for the construction of at least four temporary berths in the area of Marghera also intended for passenger ships of gross tonnage over 25.000 tons; for the maintenance of existing canals, subject to Environmental Impact Assessment; and for ancillary works to improve nautical accessibility and navigation safety.

Image: cruise ship in St. Mark’s Basin. Photo by Wolfgang Moroder

Venice, from August 1 stop to large ships in San Marco

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