The Offshore Terminal

The offshore terminal of the Port of Venice will berth larger ships and will bring both economic and environmental benefits.

20 metres natural depth

To boost competitiveness in Europe, the Port of Venice is planning an offshore platform at some 8 miles off the Malamocco port mouth where the seabed has a natural depth of 20 m.

The offshore terminal will allow today's and tomorrow's ultra-large ships to call at the Port of Venice without having to further dredge the existing lagoon channels. Thanks to the offshore platform, Venice will be among the few ports (if not the only one) in Italy where 20,000 TEUs-ships will be able to berth.

It will also be possible to distribute goods to the European and Italian markets exploiting the most convenient land port. The terminal is expected to become the central link between the existing logistics centres and the maritime traffic generated by global trade.

Types of traffic managed by the offshore platform

The offshore platform will mainly handle oil, bulk and container traffic.

The transport of oil will be managed through pipelines that will link the terminal to the coast. As a result, oil-tankers will be kept out of the lagoon, as specified in the special law for Venice.

The new terminal will be able to berth ships with deeper draughts and it will also help the logistics platform and terminals of Montesyndial, Chioggia, Mantova and Porto Levante to handle containers.

Benefits of the offshore terminal

The offshore terminal will create new jobs, will benefit the economy, and will also help the environment. It has been estimated that choosing the Port of Venice means to:

• spend 5 less days at sea, and to cut greenhouse emissions (97 CO2 kg less for each container transported to Munich via Venice instead of via a Northern Europe port);
• reduce the need to dredge the port channels (saving money and helping the environment);
• increase the safety of navigation in the lagoon.

Original Website: www.port.venice.it