Angry Venetians battle to ban ‘giant’ cruise ships

ROME - Tension is rising between the Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli and the local committee in Venice who claim the new government is not working quickly enough to ban huge cruise liners which dock in the city’s lagoon, local sources said on Friday.

 These huge cruise ships that arrive in the city’s docks enable thousands and thousands of passengers to disembark every week in the historic centre. Two days ago, Toninelli seemed to have put the government on the same wavelength. “The biggest ones should be moved to Marghera,” he had said, referring explicitly to the solution put forth during the age of Paolo Gentiloni, Italy’s ex-Prime Minister.

 Last November minister Graziano Delrio, at the end of the ‘Comitatone’ assembly, announced that “from today, the largest ships will not be permitted to pass through Saint Mark’s lagoon nor the Giudecca canal.” Toninelli’s words matched Delrio’s, adding nothing new to the debate on the potential economic impact on the city.

 The society appropriately named ‘Committee No Large Ships’ has risen in protest. “Governments pass but the cruise ships remain. All the changes promised to us have come to a halt. The minister is in hiding. Although he ruled against ships in the lagoon in the election campaign, by now not taking a position he now knows full well that he supports the status quo and the passage of cruise ships in the heart of the city.”

One protestor, Luciano Mazzolin, explained that “on June 10 we had organised, a great protest in name of dignity for Venice together with many other associations and committees. The price of dignity is to definitively ban the ships in the lagoon, forbidding new developments or the transfer of huge ships to Marghera. For this we will protest again; for this we will go to the water.” The event is scheduled for Sunday, Sep. 30 in the Saint Mark’s Basin and the Giudecca canal, where the protestors will attend in every possible type of boat to block the traffic of the great ships. “To go against the ships together means to show the world that Venice is still a place of strong social ties, able to seek and obtain respect for their city from an environmental, social and cultural perspective,” the spokesperson concluded.

 After the protest by the group, Toninelli reconsidered, announcing that “gradually, we will have to bring all the ‘giants of the sea’ out of the lagoon perimeter identified in the ministerial decree of 1985.” He noted that “tourism must be truly sustainable to guarantee the protection of the treasure chest that is Venice.

 “Whilst preventing the building of new canals, we will accept ships up to 40 thousand tons using the maritime station, and eventually the one in Chioggia that is already prepared but has never been used.”

 The minister then questioned the 40-thousand-ton limit. “We need to ascertain if this limit is actually doable. We should use a more refined measure that takes into account not only the weight, but other criteria, such as the shape and height of the hulls.” He proceeded to wink at the protestors, adding that it was necessary to “listen to the requests of those that have fought a long hard battle to remove the floating cities in Venice; a battle that this ministry will pursue without hesitation.”

 cb