The pandemic has forced cruise traffic in Venice to stop for eighteen months. The activity has resumed this Saturday, and the first great boat that has sailed has passed through the canal. In this regard, hundreds of neighbours and agents in the area have demonstrated to denounce the ecological damage caused by passenger ships and garbage containers.

After a year and a half, the traffic in large boats in Venice has started again on 5 June this year. The MSC Orchestra of 92,000 tons of MSC Orchestra, which will travel to Croatia and Greece, has been the first ship to have passed since the pandemic. This tourist activity affects much of the economy of Venice and various agents have been satisfied with the end of the blockade. But many citizens have opposed it: over a hundred have gone out to the street and to the canals, in small boats, under the slogan “not large boats”, to denounce the damage caused by this activity and to demand responsibility from the government.

The public has stated that the situation has improved due to the pandemic, but has denounced that if the same forms are returned, there will be ecological damage, especially soil erosion and pollution. For these reasons, according to Reuters, in April the Italian Government banned large vessels such as containers and ferries sailing through the historic centre of Venice. However, the ban has not yet entered into force, as terminals for ships outside the canal are not ready, their construction plans have not been tendered and the population has called for further action.

Compression routes

UNESCO called on the Italian Government to take measures to control the traffic of large vessels in Venice in 2012. In 2019, the authorities were given a period of one year to solve the problem, claiming that if they did not do so, the title of “world heritage” granted to the Historical Quarter of Venice would be withdrawn.