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Italy to pay €57m compensation over Venice cruise ship ban

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Italy to pay €57m compensation over Venice cruise ship ban
The decision to limit cruise ship access to the Venice lagoon has come at a cost. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP

The Italian government announced on Friday it would pay 57.5 million euros in compensation to cruise companies affected by the decision to ban large ships from Venice's fragile lagoon.

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The new rules, which took effect in August, followed years of warnings that the giant floating hotels risked causing irreparable damage to the lagoon city, a UNESCO world heritage site.

READ ALSO: Venice bans large cruise ships from centre after Unesco threat of ‘endangered’ status

Some 30 million euros has been allocated for 2021 for shipping companies who incurred costs in "rescheduling routes and refunding passengers who cancelled trips", the infrastructure ministry said in a statement.

A further 27.5 million euros - five million this year and the rest in 2022 - was allocated for the terminal operator and related companies, it said.

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The decision to ban large cruise ships from the centre of Venice in July came just days before a meeting of the UN's cultural organisation Unesco, which had proposed adding Venice to a list of endangered heritage sites over inaction on cruise ships.

READ ALSO: Is Venice really banning cruise ships from its lagoon?

Under the government’s plan, cruise ships will not be banned from Venice altogether but the biggest vessels will no longer be able to pass through St Mark’s Basin, St Mark’s Canal or the Giudecca Canal. Instead, they’ll be diverted to the industrial port at Marghera.

But critics of the plan point out that Marghera – which is on the mainland, as opposed to the passenger terminal located in the islands – is still within the Venice lagoon.

Some aspects of the plan remain unclear, as infrastructure at Marghera is still being built. Meanwhile, smaller cruise liners are still allowed through St Mark's and the Giudecca canals.

Cruise ships provide a huge economic boost to Venice, but activists and residents say the ships contribute to problems caused by 'overtourism' and cause large waves that undermine the city's foundations and harm the fragile ecosystem of its lagoon.

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Anonymous 2021/12/05 15:50
The cruise lines have caused untold billions in environmental damage, damage to our heritage and have made our historic coastal towns unlivable for locals, and we are paying compensation to them?!?
Anonymous 2021/12/04 21:19
The Unions at the (recently expanded) San Basilio passenger ship terminal on the St. Marks basin are probably holding them up for PLENTY.
Anonymous 2021/12/04 04:19
It's not like these large cruise ships didn't know this was coming. How lazy are people that they cancel their cruise because they can't swan off their ship onto their preferred destination?
Anonymous 2021/12/03 22:14
About the stupidest thing I've read in a long while! WTF...!!! :(

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