Cruise ships delayed by paddling protestors

Monday, 23 Sep, 2013 0

Protestors delayed cruise ships by over an hour as they padded in the canal in central Venice.

The protest, backed by 1,000 supporters, was timed to coincide with a busy day, with 12 cruise ships heading past St Mark’s Square due to a scheduling quirk – well above the daily average of two ships.

"The demonstration was a great success and we now hope the government will take advantage of this momentum and kick the cruise ships out of the Venice lagoon," Silvio Testa, a spokesman for the protesters told the Telegraph.

Politicians looked closer to tackling the big ships coming into central Venice at the weekend.

Andrea Orlando, the environment minister, said he would propose next month the gradual switching of ships to Marghera, a mainland port in the lagoon, even before an alternative route was decided on.

The Italian government issued a decree in March last year banning ships of more than 40,000 tons from within two nautical miles of sites such as the centre of Venice.

But the ban is only to come into effect when alternative routes to the port of Venice have been found, possibly along newly dredged channels across the Venice lagoon – a solution that would take years to implement.

"The time for decisions has arrived, the big ships must go as soon as possible," said Giorgio Orsoni, mayor of Venice.

Protesters are concerned about the ecological impact of the big cruise ships and the pollution they cause.

But the cruise lines account for as much as a fifth of the city’s tourism earnings.

Diane

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