CRUISE Lines International Association (CLIA) has welcomed statements made by the Mayor of Venice that demand an “urgent solution” to allow cruise vessels to enter via an alternative route to the city’s Giudecca Canal. The comments come following last weekend’s incident which saw the MSC Opera crash into Uniworld’s River...
CRUISE Lines International Association (CLIA) has welcomed statements made by the Mayor of Venice that demand an “urgent solution” to allow cruise vessels to enter via an alternative route to the city’s Giudecca Canal.
The comments come following last weekend’s incident which saw the MSC Opera crash into Uniworld’s River Countess while attempting to dock (CW 03 Jun).
“The cruise industry has worked diligently with the Mayor of Venice, the Veneto Region, the Port Authority and many others, to find viable solutions to allow larger cruise ships to access the Marittima berths without transiting the Giudecca Canal,” said Adam Goldstein, Chairman of Cruise Lines International Association.
“We are in agreement with the solution developed by Comitatone in 2018 to utilise the Vittorio Emanuele Canal as the best and most prudent means to move larger cruise ships away from the Giudecca,” he added.
The association, which has been in support of the rerouting “for a considerable time”, is urging all parties in Venice to reach a conclusion to start the preparation work to dredge the Vittoria Emmanuele Canal and begin rerouting larger ships.
The number of cruise visitors to the city has declined since 2014, when a voluntary limit on ship size was placed on the canal.
Pictured: Cruise ships docked in Venice.
