Venice’s first post-COVID cruise ship sets sail amid protests

the first cruise from Venice since coronavirus restrictions were relaxed, sailed on Saturday, but some local residents protested against the return to normality, unhappy with the passage of giant liners through the historic city.

Hundreds of people demonstrated from the mainland, while small boats with flags saying “No big shipsThey surrounded and followed the 92,000-ton MSC Orchestra as it left the port of Venice en route to Croatia and Greece.

“We are here because we are against this approach but also against a tourist model which destroys the city, expels the inhabitants, destroys the planet, the cities and pollutesSaid Marta Sottoriva, a 29-year-old teacher who lives in the city.

But port authorities, workers and the city government celebrated the departure of the Orchestra, operated by MSC Cruises, as business recovery symbol after a health crisis that hit the cruise industry and the travel industry in general hard.

“We are happy (…), we were very afraid for Venice and for many years have been asking for a stable and manageable solution for ships,” said Francesco Galietti, national director of the commercial group of the International Cruise Lines Association ( CLIA). for its acronym in English).

Some residents were urging governments for years to ban large cruise ships and other large ships from crossing the lagoon and docking not far from famous St Mark’s Square.

Activists fear for safety and the environment, including pollution and underwater erosion in a city already threatened by rising sea levels.

“The fight is very long, I think we are against very big economic interests,” said Marco Baravalle, 42-year-old researcher and member of the No Grandi Navi group (No Big Ships).

The Italian government ruled in April that cruise ships and container ships should not enter the historic center of Venice, but dock elsewhere.

But The ban will only come into effect when the terminals outside the lagoon are completed and a call for tenders for their construction has not yet been issued.. Some of the traffic could be diverted to the nearby port of Marghera from next year.

The Orchestra was escorted out of the harbor not only by small protesting boats but by tugs that greeted it with jets of water, a maritime tradition reserved for special occasions.

The 16-deck ship can carry more than 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew, but for this trip it will only sail at half its capacity due to COVID-19 social distancing rules.

The CLIA estimates that the cruise business represents more than 3% of Venice’s GDP.

(With information from Reuters)

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