Tag Archives: dangerously close to shore

The Venice ‘squeeze’ that wasn’t

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The Venice ‘squeeze’ that wasn’t

By Tom Stieghorst

*InsightReturning from Italy after a week on the Carnival Sunshine, a group of us were waiting in an airport lounge when suddenly what should pop up on the television monitors but the Carnival Sunshine.
It was some kind of news story. But none of us understood Italian, so it wasn’t until I got back to the U.S. that I caught up to the tale.

An Italian newspaper had reported that the Carnival Sunshine, on its way through the Giudecca Canal in Venice, had passed within 20 meters of the shoreline, squeezing a vaporetto water taxi in the process.*TomStieghorst

The story was based on comments from a Venetian environmental minister who said witnesses reported the incident to him. He was quoted as wondering about the reason for this “sail by,” inferring both that there was some sort of salute to Carnival Corp. Chairman Micky Arison, whose yacht was docked nearby, and some similarity to the tragic circumstances of the Costa Concordia sinking, which was caused by an unapproved sail-by of the Italian island of Giglio.

It isn’t often one is in the position to know first-hand about a story halfway around the world. And yet in this case I was on the Carnival Sunshine as it arrived in Venice.

Moreover, I was watching from the starboard side, where the squeeze allegedly took place. I can say there was no deviation from a straight course, no audible warning from anyone on the water and no comment from any of the scores of passengers on deck that something was amiss.

Carnival said the ship passed no closer to shore than 70 meters at the point of dispute. The cruise line said the local harbor pilot and the Italian Coast Guard confirmed that, as did the ship’s voyage data recorder.

So why the uproar?

Carnival and other cruise lines have been targets of a campaign to stop ships from sailing past St. Mark’s Square on their way into Venice. Posters and banners supporting No Grandi Navi (no big ships) aren’t to be found everywhere in Venice, but they’re not hard to find either.

Inevitably, the story alleging a close brush with shore got shoehorned into that narrative: that cruise ships are dangerously big and cruise lines are not to be trusted.

And, of course, the shadow of Concordia still hangs over all things cruise in Italy.

There might or might not be sound reasons to reroute cruise ships from the Giudecca Canal. But hopefully any decision will be based on the merits and facts, not on allegations about something that was really nothing.

cruise ship passed ‘dangerously close to shore

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Fury of Venetians after 110,000-ton cruise ship passed ‘dangerously close to shore to perform salute to company shareholder’

By HANNAH ROBERTS

PUBLISHED: 18:26, 28 July 2013 | UPDATED: 19:23, 28 July 2013

  • Carnival Sunshine appears to pass within 20m of city’s fragile shoreline
  • Liner is owned by the same parent company of the Costa Concordia
  • Ship botched its manoeuvre, witnesses claim, squeezing other boats

 

Ventians have reacted with fury after a cruise ship allegedly passed within yards of the city’s historic banks while performing ‘a salute’ to a major company shareholder.

Film footage of the Carnival Sunshine, which is owned by the same parent company as the notorious Costa Concordia, appears to show the 110,000-ton liner passing within 20 metres of the city’s fragile shoreline.

The ship botched its manoeuvre, squeezing a vaporetto water taxi and other boats between the ship and the bank, witnesses claimed.

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People in Venice have reacted with fury to footage showing a cruise ship which appears to pass within yards of the city's fragile shorelinePeople in Venice have reacted with fury to footage showing a cruise ship which appears to pass within yards of the city’s fragile shoreline – and show a water taxi, circled, squeezed between the liner and the bank

At the time of the incident an 150ft super yacht belonging to former Carnival CEO and major shareholder Mickey Arison was moored on the same part of the shoreline, the local newspaper Nuova Venezia reported, fuelling rumours that the manoeuvre was an in fact a sail-by salute.

The incident raises the spectre of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which sank after hitting rocks off the coast of Tuscany during just such a salute to the island of Giglio last year.

 

 

 

 

Writer Roberto Ferrucci, who filmed the exercise, told the Italian news agency ANSA: ‘I was sitting at the café reading on the bank, as I often do, when I saw the ship tailing.

Rather than moving towards the centre of the channel it almost brushed the shore causing a vaporetto to get caught dangerously between the ship and the bank. It was shocking.’

Carnival have denied any wrongdoing saying it was ‘a safe transit’.

Witnesses claimed that the Carnival Sunshine botched its maneouvre as it sailed in the Venetian watersWitnesses claimed that the Carnival Sunshine botched its maneouvre as it sailed in the Venetian waters

 

Writer Roberto Ferrucci filmed the ship from a vantage point at a cafeWriter Roberto Ferrucci filmed the ship from a vantage point at a cafe and called the move ‘shocking’

But Venice’s proud residents are already up in arms about the presence of large cruise ships passing through the lagoon, with protesters last month calling for a ban on all those that pass by St Mark’s Cathedral.

The committee of the No to Big Ships group denounced the latest incident as ‘reckless’.

A statement said: ‘The reckless manoeuvre or error destroys the argument that an accident in St Mark’s basin is impossible.’

Local councillor Beppe Caccia tweeted ‘Shame on you Mr Mickey Arson, Sunshine putting Venice at risk.’

A 150ft super-yacht belonging to major shareholder Mickey Arson was moored on the same part of the shoreline, sparking rumours that the Sunshine had performed a 'sail-salute'A 150ft super-yacht belonging to major shareholder Mickey Arson was moored on the same part of the shoreline, sparking rumours that the Sunshine had performed a ‘sail-salute’

Environmental group Codacons called for port authorities to seize the ship pending an investigation by prosecutors.

Andrea Orlando, minister for the environment, said that the number of ships must be reduced.

This episode ‘confirms the high risk we are taking,’ he said.

A statement from the cruise company said: ‘Carnival intends to prove that the few metres claimed by the witness are in fact 72 metres and that the brush is no more than a safe transit carried out in accordance with the rules of transit.’

A spokesman said reports of a ‘salute’ were ‘unfounded’.

‘The passage through the Venice Lagoon occurred in full compliance with navigational regulations and well within the accepted parameters for distance from shore,’ the spokesman said.

‘The Carnival Sunshine passed more than 70 metres from Riva dei Sette Martiri on the planned route. The distance from shore has been confirmed by the Coast Guard, the local pilot association and Carnival Cruise Lines.’