A court overturned the environmental approval required for Royal Caribbean to begin construction on its newest cruise port.
According to local news outlets, a regional administrative court in Lazio, Italy, on July 3 repealed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the €600 million project in Fiumicino.
Judges ruled that the development had been incorrectly classified as a tourist marina when it should have been classified as a commercial port, even though the Royal Caribbean Group-backed project also includes plans for commercial space, restaurants, a hotel, shops, public waterfront parks, and more.
As such, the environmental approval issued by Italy's Ministry of Environment and Energy Security was overturned, and construction cannot move forward.
That doesn't mean the project is entirely dead, though. In a statement to Italian media, Fiumicino Waterfront CEO Galliano Di Marco claimed they will appeal the decision through the appropriate legal channels within the prescribed timeframe.
Why Royal Caribbean wants to build a new Rome cruise port
The newly proposed cruise port, located in Fiumicino near Rome's Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, would allow cruisers to board ships closer to the city center and the airport.
Currently, Rome's cruise port is in Civitavecchia, over 80 kilometers (50 miles) away from the city, or about an hour's drive.
Its proximity to Rome's major international airport would also make it more convenient for guests to embark and disembark. Those boarding ships in Rome could be at the terminal in minutes, rather than boarding shuttle buses or reserving pricey private transfers for the long drive to Civitavecchia.
According to the developers, the new cruise terminal would have the capacity to serve more than 1 million passengers annually and operate as a homeport for cruise ships for roughly 200 days each year.
Plans further indicate that ships would have access to shore power while docked. As such, they wouldn't have to run the engines in port.
Moreover, the development would supposedly create thousands of jobs, improve local infrastructure, and help meet the growing demand for cruise and yacht facilities in the Mediterranean.
Second major setback this year for Royal Caribbean
In May, Mexican Environment Minister Alicia Barcena confirmed that plans for Perfect Day Mexico wouldn't be approved following massive backlash from environmental groups, as previously reported by Royal Caribbean Blog.
According to a report released by Mexico's Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), officials felt that there were too many concerns tied to mangroves, coral reefs, groundwater systems, and broader ecosystem impacts in Mahahual, Costa Maya.
SEMARNAT also claimed that Perfect Day Mexico added risks to the Mesoamerican Reef System involving groundwater and underground hydrological systems.
Another concern was that Royal Caribbean combined all elements of the project (i.e., the water park, beach club, and cruise pier) into one large development, instead of evaluating individual parts. Combined, officials argued that the environmental effects would be too significant to ignore.
That said, the company isn't abandoning its Perfect Day Mexico plans. Instead, they're reworking elements of the project to address the concerns around its coastal impact, with plans to re-engage with stakeholders in the future.