Everyone knows that 33 days ago (June 2, for the record) a cruise ship named the MSC “Opera” ran into the dock at San Basilio and delivered a glancing blow to a smaller ship moored there, and a mighty thwack to the dock itself. The video of the event created quite the sensation, though probably nothing near the sensation experienced by crew and passengers.
Many people were horrified but, as you might imagine, the “No Big Ships” contingent was ecstatic. Whatever your emotions, for those few seconds it appeared that the end of the world had come. Abundant photos and a video are to be found here.
Technicians swarmed the ship, examining every valve and screw; statements were taken, legal documents were launched, apologies and reimbursements rained down upon the passengers. The proximate cause of the incident was the breaking of the bow tugboat’s line to the ship as it struggled to slow the ship’s speed. But it seems that something was amiss with the engine; an official of a tugboat company explained to France 24 that “The engine was blocked, but with its thrust on, because the speed was increasing.”
According to Mr. James Walker, a Miami-based maritime lawyer and cruise safety advocate, “Cruise ships typically have redundant power systems; however, it is not possible for a secondary power source to immediately or instantaneously activate in time to avert an accident like this,” noting there was nothing the captain could have done to avoid the collision.
One factor that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere amid all the technical details of the ship was the tide. Anyone who was near — or especially on – the water could confirm that there was a very powerful incoming tide that morning; obviously it would have added significantly to the ship’s forward momentum. The next ship in line to enter Venice waited for at least an hour, immobile, in front of Sant’ Elena, while the rear-facing tugboat attached to its stern kept its engines roaring at full-speed-ahead (i.e., pulling the ship backward), straining to resist the power of the current.
To return to the wayward ship: After a week or so the MSC “Opera” was back at work. I saw it go.
So things are back to normal. I can say that because I noticed other signs.
For example, last Saturday (June 29), as we were crossing the causeway to Venice, I counted nine (9) cruise ships in port. I interpret that to mean that the cruise industry has not labeled Venice a hazardous-duty post.
Also: Passing San Basilio in the vaporetto, I could see the damage to the dock. Frankly, our bathroom is in worse shape than this.
Perhaps most important, last Sunday morning around 9:00 AM I saw a majestic ship bearing the MSC emblem approaching Venice. According to the port schedule, this would have been the MSC “Magnifica,” but the “Opera” was right behind it an hour later. It was being accompanied (not literally towed, as you can always see that the ship is proceeding under its own power) by two monster tugboats in place of the previous single, more modest tug.
For those who object to the ships on aesthetic grounds — big, out of proportion, ugly passing Venice, none of which is debatable, though I think we should, as a general rule, resist correlating beauty and safety — one should keep in mind that smaller boats are often involved in similar accidents, with worse results than a banged-up fondamenta. Four days before this event, a river-cruise boat collided with a sightseeing vessel on the Danube at Budapest, leaving seven dead and 21 missing. Neither ship was big.
When a solution is reached to which all parties can agree, something will change. Meanwhile, the monster tugs are on the job.
8 Comments
Italians have a reputation for being inspired by conspiracy theories. So I wonder if there is any information if this one is true. ART NEWS DAILY published an article that said that the mayor of Venice was in league with Turkish investors to keep the large cruise ships coming. Any comment?
I’ve visited Venice and the Veneto over 11 times, but never on a cruise ship or group tour. Speaking with other Americans is truly amazing. They ask “How do you know what to see?” The thought of picking up a guidebook has never occurred to them. They must be spoon fed.
I try to avoid commenting on things I know nothing about, so I’ll pass on the conspiracy theories (which seem to thrive in many different nations, come to think of it). I don’t know how many “other Americans” you’ve spoken with; I know plenty of cultured, curious, experienced Americans who don’t resemble anything like the ones you refer to. In any case, the people who travel in groups waiting to be spoon fed, as you put it, have taken the trouble and paid the money to travel to a foreign country when they could just as easily have stayed at home. So good for them, I say. There’s room out here for everybody.
Thanks, Erla, for a more level-headed account of what expired and what might, or might not, come out of it. Yesterday I, too, watched one of these Behemoths of the seas beeing escorted by three sturdy tug-boats and that seems to me the least bad (i wouldn’t say best) solution for the time beeing. As for the damages on the fondamenta at S. Basilio I seem to remember having read something about that beeing re-enforced in some way to accommodate bigger ships so if a ship ever should run in to a venetian fondamenta that was also the least bad place to do it.
I would hope, though, that there will be some solution to keep the cruise ships outside the laguna in some ways but we’ll just have to let the wheels of public administration grind away, I guess? I’m not beeing fatalistic or cynical here, If there was a quick fix to this, surely it would already been applied?
The damage caused by motondoso is infinitely worse than any potential damage by a ship. We should take you around the canals in our boat at low tide sometime; you will see holes so large and deep in the foundations of palaces that make you wonder how the building is still standing. Everybody knows it, but nobody wants to change anything. It’s more fun to yell at the big ships.
Firing your rifle at an elephant is dramatic, but it’s the mosquito that’s going to kill you. People need to stop letting themselves be manipulated by politicians.
PS: The MSC Preziosa experienced a collision in 2014 in the Maritime Zone — but who remembers that? Why should they? It created even less damage than the “Opera.” Now that I think of it, maybe we should just ban the MSC ships…
I have always thought it ironic that La Serenissima, the great maritime republic, was considering banning ships.
If they dont come the lagoon will be left to silt up even faster.
Your comment about the tide is perceptive, but that would imply a degree of human error. Much better all round to blame machinery failure.
Thanks for writing, but I don’t understand most of what you said.
When was the Serenissima considering banning ships? And why?
The lagoon is losing sediment at a million cubic meters a year and is becoming less a lagoon and more of an arm of the sea. There has been some talk about re-routing some rivers back into the lagoon (which had been shifted centuries ago to debouch elsewhere, for fear of their silting up the lagoon) precisely in order to bring more silt back into the lagoon.
How does the tide imply human error?
I’m confused.
Again, thank you for a clear, level-headed, thoroughly sane account of what really had hit all the headlines. I’d often thought that the tugs really do need to be more evident at times, and everyone knows that when a rope or cable breaks suddenly under tension, the effect is very frightening.
The cruise ships may be a necessary evil, as you say, but they really do dominate the skyline!
So glad that you – again – have taken the effort to find out the truth, and reduce the speculation and gossip. Thank goodness for people like you.
Tremendously informative, Erla, as usual. I noticed the ship waiting by the gardens, but if only I had known that it was being pulled back from behind, that would have been a whole new dimension of excitement.
I am practising learning the names of the islands that can be seen from the seats along the waterfront at S.Elena, and wondered if you know what has happened to Sacca Sessola – it has apparently become a Marriot resort, but can any old person go there? Apparently it’s not advertised. And what gives at San Servolo, which according to Google earth has “Venice international university” on it, but there never seems to be any activity as in to-ing and fro-ing, and from across the water it looks deserted.
I am increasingly sympathetic to lovely old people, but when they park their huge yachts along Sette Martiri blocking the view for those of us who can still manage a reasonable distance walking, it raises the question whether they would be more happy on age-appropriate coach tours, leaving their – as some might say – rather vulgar boats at home in their tax havens.