The Court Order concerns the definitive solutions for cruises, not the provisions of Administrative Order 103/2021 on temporary landings and commission activities, which proceed as per scheduled

Venice, April 27, 2022

"The sentence of the RAC n. 612 of 26 April 2022 has as its object the Competition of Ideas for the construction and management of mooring points outside the protected waters of the Venice Lagoon, not the Administrative Order 103/2021 Realization of temporary moorings and complementary interventions for the protection of Venice and its Lagoon".

This was specified by the President of the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea and Special Commissioner for cruises Fulvio Lino Di Blasio: "There is no correlation between the sentence just issued by the RAC and the interventions and activities in progress provided for by Administrative Order 103/2021 . The ruling partially cancels the tender documents of the Competition for Ideas referring to definitive solutions for cruising in Venice - in the part in which the documents refer to the localization of the mooring points outside the protected waters.

The Competition of Ideas

- defined in AO 45/2021 "Urgent measures in the field of transport and regulation of cruise traffic and maritime transport of goods in the Venice Lagoon" then converted into law 75/2021 and banned by the AdSP last year June 29, after months of work in synergy with the MISM (Minister of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility) for the development of tender documents - is aimed at collecting ideas and technical and economic feasibility projects relating to the construction and management of mooring points for cruises and containers outside the protected areas of the Lagoon, with the aim of reconciling the conduct of cruise activities in the territory of Venice and its Lagoon and safeguarding the uniqueness and excellence of the cultural, landscape and environmental heritage of its territory.

"With respect to the ruling issued by the RAC, we are evaluating the most appropriate solutions in all respects to safeguard public interest and the future of cruising in Venice" explains the President of PSAoNAS.

In the meantime, Di Blasio informs us that the activities of the Venice Cruise Commission are proceeding on schedule and with reference to the change of route of some cruise ships between 22 and 24 April and the programming for the 2022 season, the Special Commissioner specifies that:

"The limitations of port operations generated by adverse marine weather conditions represent cases which we must deal with - and moreover, which do not concern only Venice and Marghera, but for different reasons also other Italian and European ports. To provide maximum support to the cruise sector in this very delicate phase, in collaboration with the MISM we have started a dialogue with the Port System Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea to regulate the use of Monfalcone for cases in which the wind conditions do not allow cruise ships access to Venice, with a view to pre-empting such criticalities in accordance with navigation safety regulations, governed by the Harbour Master's Office. However, these are temporary contingencies, which will be overcome through the provisions of Administrative Order 103/2021, which also includes interventions aimed at improving nautical accessibility and navigational safety. The initiatives that we are going to implement will allow us to reconsider the wind limits set to date, guaranteeing greater manoeuverability in the transit and landing phases.

We are constantly in contact with the Companies and their Agents in Venice who confirm their desire to be able to disembark in Venice and that the programming on Venice-Marghera remains unchanged ”.