ROME, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Italy will immediately begin to limit large cruise ship traffic in the Venice lagoon and the biggest vessels – of more than 96,000 gross tonnes – will be banned from November of next year, the government said on Tuesday.
Protests by Venice residents and environmentalists concerned about the damage caused by increasing cruise ship traffic to the fragile city, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, have been on the rise in recent years.
Prime Minister Enrico Letta met the transport and culture ministers as well as the governor of the Veneto region and the mayor of Venice, and approved plans to limit or shut down cruise ship traffic in parts of the Venice lagoon and near the city’s famous Saint Mark’s Square.
“Finally the trend towards gigantic ships in the lagoon has been turned around,” the mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, said in a statement. “We’ve had enough of these mega cruise ships just metres away from San Marco, from now on there will be clear limits on the size of ships that can enter Venice.”
concern at the risk posed by the enormous vessels has been heightened by the disaster of the Costa Concordia, the 114,500 tonne liner which sank off the Tuscan island of Giglio in 2012, with the loss of 32 lives.
Large cruise ships will be banned from the canal between the mainland and the Giudecca island in the lagoon while a new access channel is developed with the main shipping terminal.
From January 2014, cruise ship traffic in front of the Piazza San Marco in the heart of the city, will be limited, with the number of cruise ships of more than 40,000 tonnes authorized to cross the Giudecca canal cut by 20 percent from 2012 levels.
From November next year, the largest ships of more than 96,000 tonnes will be banned entirely from crossing the Giudecca canal.
(Reporting by Steve Scherer and James Mackenzie; editingby Ralph Boulton)
By Andy Sullivan, Joseph Campbell and Gabriella Borter BALTIMORE, March 26 (Reuters) – Six workers were missing and presumed dead from a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday after a massive...
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early today after the large containerships Dali struck a primary support column. Two individuals were rescued, one is seriously injured, and authorities...
The most severe US bridge allision since the Tampa Skyway Bridge disaster in 1980 happened in the early hours of the morning while the ship was under pilotage. Here are...
The Unified Command continues to oversee the response operations following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Dive operations and vehicle recovery have currently been put on...
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge has brought navigation into and out of the Port of Baltimore to a standstill. Behind the collapsed bridge is located every terminal...
By Malte Humpert (gCaptain) – The Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority (NSIA) released its report on the loss of propulsion and near-grounding of cruise ship Viking Sky on 23 March 2019....
10 hours ago
Total Views: 1652
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.