Comitato No grandi navi Comitato No grandi navi – Laguna bene comune
Pro-tourism demonstrators plan rally but locals protest against vessels clogging up canals amid fears of damage and pollution
A row in Venice over the cruise liners that clog the city’s canals has intensified, with supporters planning a rally to defend tourism and opponents saying the ships are turning the area into Disneyland.
Two cruise ships a day currently sail down Venice’s narrow Giudecca canal, offering passengers spectacular views as they tower over St Marks Square but, according to protesters, polluting the delicate eco system of the lagoon and shaking the fragile foundations of the city.
Local demonstrators who took to the Giudecca canal in small boats in September were confronted by a heavy police presence and buzzed by a police helicopter.
In response to their protest, port workers will meet at Venice’s cruise ship port on Tuesday in solidarity with the two million tourists who arrive on 650 ships annually.
“We want to defend the ships that put food on the table of 5,000 families and boost the economy, given that every passenger spends about €200 in town,” said Massimo Bernardo of the Cruise Venice committee.
“The cruise ships are helping turn Venice into Disneyland,” countered Silvio Testa, spokesman for the No Grandi Navi committee. “Let’s say I want to buy a hammer in Venice, all I can find is carnival masks.”
Testa said the ships not only belched fumes, “but also displace 90,000 tonnes of water, which gets pushed against the medieval city like a piston, to what effect no one knows.”
Bernardo said the water movement was no different to tidal movement. “The ships also switch to a cleaner fuel when they enter the lagoon,” he said.
The protest escalated after the crash of the Costa Concordia cruise liner off the Italian island of Giglio in January, prompting fears a ship could one day slam into St Marks Square.
“With the two tugs that escort the ships and the two local pilots that go on board, a Captain Schettino would have to convince four people to leave his route,” said Paolo Costa, the head of Venice’s port authority.
The authority has nevertheless proposed an alternative route to the city’s port, which would see ships arrive through a southern entrance, follow the route taken by cargo ships to the mainland port of Marghera and then cut across the lagoon, avoiding the Giudecca canal.
The plan requires dredging a 4.8km stretch of the two-metre deep lagoon to accommodate the cruise ships, which need 10 metres of water. That would take 18 months and cost €128m.
Bernardo said he approved of the plan, but Testa said he would oppose it. “It still means the erosion and pollution caused by these ships stays inside the lagoon, leading to its destruction over the long term,” Testa added.
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