Venice cruise ship ban to be put back in place

Restrictions on cruise ships entering Venice past St Mark’s Square and along the Guidecca Canal are to be reinstated, the Italian government has announced.

Vessels larger than 96,000 gross tons will be banned from sailing though central Venice from next January. A ban which was put in place last year was lifted by a regional court, whose ruling has now been overturned..

The number of cruise ships of more than 40,000 gt entering the city each year will be reduced by 20 per cent.

Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) members have been complying voluntarily with the restrictions while waiting for the situation – brought into focus by conservation groups – to be resolved.

The government has decreed that the existing cruise terminal is the only effective port to maintain Venice as a cruising hub and to safeguard the economic benefits of tourism.

It has ordered an immediate environmental impact study into the dredging of a new channel which would allow the 600 cruise ships which visit Venice each year to reach the terminal by the commercial shipping channel to the port of Marghera on the mainland.  A 4.8 kilometre channel has to be excavated at  an expected cost of €115m. The work will take at least 18 months.

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