F.A.Q. Venice's offshore terminal

What is the deep-water platform for, and what are its main technical features?

The deep-water platform will be erected 8 nautical miles (14 km) off the Malamocco port mouth. It will include a terminal dedicated specifically to oil tankers and another terminal for containers. The platform will enable Venice to keep the oil-tankers out of the lagoon and will also berth the large container ships that directly link Europe with other continents, especially the Far East, and that would otherwise be unable to access the lagoon.

It is innovative both as a facility and in the way containers will be handled there. Imagine the terminal like a comb. The large container ships berth on the back of the comb. The barges berth between the teeth of the comb and a fully automated innovative system transfers containers directly from ship to barge without touching land. Once they are fully loaded, the barges can set sail to their final destination. The facility can work 24/7 and the uninterrupted performance of loading and other port operations offshore makes it an economically competitive and efficient system.

The Port of Venice's capacity to handle cargo will increase up to an extra 3 million containers a year, and will regain its position as crucial link between this region's logistics network, Europe and the Far East.

Will the new platform's offshore operations increase the cost of handling cargo?

The new platform might cause extra costs compared to the current port operations. Nevertheless, the cost of its operations will still be far lower than current transport costs, that are affected by the absence of an economically viable alternative to using north European ports and partly the ports of the Tyrrhenian for import and export operations to this region. In addition, the deep-water platform will enable to avoid costly maintenance work in the lagoon (deepening the channels) and the recovery of unused industrial land in Porto Marghera: as a result it provides an environmentally and economically sustainable management of the transport system.

Who will finance Venice's deep-water platform project?

The breakwater, i.e. the offshore structure that will protect the oil and container terminals from the sea, will be financed by Venice's Water Authority (Magistrato alle Acque). The State finances this infrastructure because by providing a means to keep oil-tankers out of the lagoon it enables the achievement of the national aim to safeguard Venice and its ecosystem stated in law 798/94. The container handling terminal will be built resorting to combined public-private financing tools and will not weigh on the state's accounts.

How will the project proceed from now?

First of all the so-called "Comitatone" (the body that brings together all the institutions in charge of safeguarding Venice and the lagoon) will have to issue a resolution on the erection of the breakwater as required by law 798/94. The Venice Port Authority will then start up the procedures needed to obtain the necessary permits and the works will be performed within the next 5 years.

How is the deep-sea platform rated in terms of environmental sustainability?

The offshore platform will enable the Venice Port Authority to achieve and further promote at least 4 of the aims of its “Green Port” initiative that sets the blueprint for the Port of Venice's future development:

• Avoid oil-tankers accessing the lagoon's delicate ecosystem to ensure its protection.
• Avoid having to deepen the lagoon's navigable channels resorting to expensive operations that alter the lagoon's morphology; on the contrary, continue the maintenance works that contribute to eliminating the polluting sludge on the lagoon bed.
• Proceed to the environmental recovery of the brownfield areas of Porto Marghera that will be used to berth the container barges coming from the offshore platform. To achieve this aim, the Venice Port Authority has already bought and is remediating the soil in over 90 hectares of land in Porto Marghera. As a result, the port will be able to grow and offer employment and development opportunities without taking up Venice's precious land as it will clean up and use the areas previously used by industry.
• Invest in the best technology available to implement the platform and its ancillary facilities, to save energy and reduce its environmental impact.

Will the implementation of the deep-water platform mean less funds and financing for the MoSE project and for other policies to safeguard Venice?

No. By ousting oil tankers from the lagoon, the deep-water platform is absolutely in line with the strategy to safeguard Venice and its lagoon stated in law 798/94. In addition, the development of the container handling areas will be financed through public-private partnership tools and will not weigh on the public accounts.

Why was the deep-water platform chosen instead of an equally efficient land platform in Porto Marghera?

To avoid the impact on the lagoon's environment of expanding, modernising and implementing a new access to this area from the sea.

To implement the land platform, the lagoon's navigable channels would have to be deepened to ensure the safe transit of large intercontinental and ocean-faring container ships. This would entail a lot of work to further deepen the channels and consolidate the embankments, and would require constant and expensive dredging to be maintained. The deep-water platform only requires ordinary maintenance and the handling system enables the cargo transported by the large container ships to be safely transferred by barge to the classification and processing areas that will be built in Porto Marghera.

Will the operations in the deep-water platform affect rail and road connections to Porto Marghera?

The deep-water platform, just like any other project implemented or even just contemplated by the Venice Port Authority, gives due consideration to the national and European transport strategies and is fully in line with the rail and roadway development aims of the TEN-T Trans-European Transport Network.

The Port of Venice has received a tangible message from Brussels acknowledging the need to develop the port's activities, and enhance and improve rail and road access to the port.

The European Union has in fact already provided 50% of the financing needed to develop a new access strategy and adapt the new railroad park that will serve the new district park (an area in Porto Marghera wholly dedicated to handling containers), and its links to the existing transport network. This project is essential to bypass the Mestre passenger railway and improve the efficiency and capacity of Venice by reducing congestion on the tracks.

The European Union will also co-finance 10% of the works needed to implement the 7 tracks (3 of which electrified) inside the port facilities of Porto Marghera, and will co-finance 10% of the works needed to adapt road and railroads to cater for the Motorways of the Seas terminal which is about to be erected in Fusina.

Finally, in 2010 the historical railway line (Linea dei Bivi) was reopened to allow railroad traffic to be directly routed towards Tarvisio and from there to Central-Eastern Europe.

Is the Offshore Port at Porto Levante (RO) an alternative to the Venice deep-water platform?

No, it is not an alternative. For a start, the Venice deep-water platform will provide a direct barge connection to the Porto Levante terminal and from there to the internal waterway system of the Fissero-Tartaro-Canal Bianco Channels, as envisaged in the Development Plans.

Also, the Venice deep-water platform will include an oil terminal and a container handling terminal. As a result it will not compete with the Porto Levante offshore terminal that manages goods in bulk and especially coal.