VENICE – The Port Authority of Venice publishes the tender for the design of the cruise and container terminals outside the Lagoon. The winner will be nominated in two years: the entire procedure likely will not be completed before 2030. In the meantime, the “Big Ships” of the major shipping companies will continue to moor inside the Lagoon.
As outlined in the Decree-Law of 1 April 2021, n 45 converted into law 75 on 17 April 2021, the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority published the call for an “idea competition” for the collection of proposals, ideas and technical and economic feasibility projects related to the construction and management of mooring points for cruise and container ships outside the protected waters of the Venetian Lagoon, as published in a note  by Port Authority.
The aim is to mitigate the development of cruise activities in Venice and its Lagoon territory and safeguard the uniqueness and excellence of the cultural, landscape, and environmental heritage.
The notice states that proposals and projects must comply with the following requirements: ensure the operation and safety of navigation even in adverse weather and sea conditions and ensure sustainability from an environmental, energy and landscape point of view; provide connection to land interchange nodes and TEN-T networks; guarantee the reception of transoceanic container services (Gateway port and transhipment) and cruise ships (Home Port).
The notice also specifies that the port must be designed and built outside the protected waters of the Lagoon, meaning the areas outside the Lagoon‘s limits in front of the Veneto regional coastal arc and not beyond the national territorial waters.
As regards the timing, the Port Authority explains that “… The international call is divided into two phases: the first, which will end by 31 December 2021, involves  presentating ideas. At the end of this period, the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority will appoint a commission composed of five experts”. The commission will select the top three design proposals, and the second phase will end on 31 December 2022, after which, and by 30 June 2023, the commission will nominate the winning project from among the three proposals.
The president of the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority, Fulvio Lino Di Blasio, specified that «… we will make available to participants all the papers and project documentation created thus far in relation to the construction of a port outside the lagoon as commissioned by the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority itself  to allow participants to understand what has been done so far, and to surpass, in technological, operational and logistical terms, the solutions hypothesized until now».