New Port in Venice

Bright prospects for Venice’s economy: the lagoon city is getting a new port for freight traffic. A new container port is intended to boost the economy of the “City of Love” and make Venice more attractive as a transshipment hub for goods and cargo.

New container port in Venice: a project unique in Europe

Venice’s new container port will represent a logistics and economic innovation unique in Europe: at a cost of around 1.4 billion euros, a deep-sea terminal, including an oil terminal, will be built on the island of Lido, eight nautical miles from Venice. Construction is due to begin in 2011, with initial work taking place at a depth of 20 metres. In 2016, the container port off the coast of Veneto is expected to welcome its first freighters, which will unload their cargo and oil there.

Venice was a trading power from an early date—and the city wants to regain this status with its new port. Building on the island of Lido will allow freight trade without harming the lagoon area of Veneto. The Venice Port Authority presented this high-profile and ambitious project, together with port president Paolo Costa, to the relevant ministries in Rome, highlighting the major opportunity the new port represents for Venice and the entire northern Adriatic: the region can once again play an important role in intercontinental deep-sea trade. The port’s fully automated loading and unloading operations are intended to contribute to this, taking an average of just two minutes per container. Through cooperation between Venice and other ports in the northern Adriatic (Koper, Ravenna, Trieste, and possibly Rijeka), the region aims to take on an important role in global trade.