Venice - June 2022

The Third Salone Nautice held in Venice this June 2022, has enabled « Electrify Venice » to check out progress on the electrification of its fleet. Progress with the two main waterbus fleets is slow, steady and hybrid . Alongside the twelve Alilaguna yellow and white hybrids, concerning ACTV's key tender received by two potential shipbuilders for two new 31m 400 PAX hybrid-electric vaporetti, news on the shipyard chosen will at last arrive by July. News about the additional tender for a sizeable fleet of 24m hybrid-electric vaporetti should be received by the end of the year. This means a cleaner more silent fleet of vaporetti from the end of 2023. While Veritas are testing six green and white workboats before transitioning the remaining 70-strong fleet, the Police’s satisfaction with their first two boats has led to a further twelve currently under construction. Only three airport taxis are hybrid, while the remainder of this sizeable fleet still wait for a nine-hour 50kmh performance offer to equal their existing diesel unit. This is the same for the water-truck companies such as Bossa A Boat . E-Dock’s linking to Aqua SuperPoser promises an increase in discreet rapid recharge points around the canals in the coming years. During the parade of the 28 e-boats, part of the 41 on show, while cruising through the Grand Canal, the Swedish E-Shore boat patriotically broadcast music by Abba !, while once out in the bay, several boats accelerated through the waves, unofficially launching the sport of e-offshore, not to be confused with the rather unstable demonstration of the E1 prototype.  The cherry on the cake, the E-Regatta,in only its second year, saw nine boats, with both female and male crews steering through the buoys in 34 seconds, while their e-ballerina proved far more choreographic and fun. The winner of the E-Regatta, for the second year in a row, was e'dyn team. On the lower steps of the podium, in second and third place, Toffolo/Torqueedo and Vita Yacht teams.
 The four yellow Huracan outboard skiffs racing around the seaplane based took the century-old-sport of outboard circuit racing into the future, with a local teenage girl, Michela Tozzo the winner. This GT-Electra fleet, personally and courageously sponsored by Italian powerboat champion Giampaolo Montavoci of the Italian Powerboat Federation, has already been invited to race in Serbia.  During the Conference, the Venice Region in the north of Italy and Puglia in the southern heel announced a collaboration in the hydrogenisation and electrification of their ports, based on the Amsterdam and Oslo models. AssonauticaVenezia, dynamically led by Marino Masiero has challenged the City to collaborate in the setting up of a working goup to lay out the administive principles for e-boat acceptance, including hydrogen. For VeniceAgenda2028, six years are left to make the conversion of all motorised vessels in the Serenissima, recently declared by her Mayor Luigi Brugnaro as The World Centre of Sustainability. Time will tell.