VENICE – After welcoming, last September 12, the first cruise on Venice landed in Marghera through Malamocco harbour entrance and the Canale dei Petroli, Vecon, one of the companies that manage the container terminals in the port of Venice, confirms its willingness to help solve the problem of cruises in the Lagoon.
Vecon is therefore willing to make available, from next spring, some of its docks on the mainland for the 2022 season of white ships in the Lagoon with greater tonnage, not able to be received at the Fusina port. The temporary solution is made necessary by the entry into force of Decree-Law 103, which prohibits the passage of large ships through the mouth of the Lido and then in basin San Marco and Giudecca channel to reach the Maritime Station.
The company points out that the operational modalities of possible use of the Vecon terminal are still under discussion in the negotiating table initiated with the Port Authority. Negotiations are open in all aspects: from quantifying the number of berths requested by cruise lines to the duration, annual or multi-year, of the agreement.
On the subject, in recent days, Galliano Di Marco, general manager of VTP (the company that manages the cruise port of call in the Lagoon), had sent a letter to shipping companies and shipping agencies regarding the requests for booking berths for the 2022 season received. In the letter, Di Marco underlines how there are no certainties either on the number of berths made available to cruise ships in the short-medium term or on the conditions of use.
In this sense, VTP has expressly requested to allow the use of the berths every day of the year and not only when there is no commercial traffic. The moorings available, admits Di Marco, will not be more than two or three units and, mainly, only on Saturdays and Sundays. The shipping companies were finally invited to confirm the 2022 programs in Venice by November 30.
Meanwhile, on the Vecon front, the ten-year process for the integration of the concession of the “Ex Cipi-Sartori” area, which began with a provisional formula in 2011, within the company’s main concession, was completed. This area accounts for approximately one-quarter of the total surface area used by the terminal. On this occasion, it was also recognized the right to abatement of the fee, with partial reversal, of the investments incurred by Vecon for the occupation and use of the compendium.