Life in Venice relies on boats to make deliveries across its network of 180 canals and 400 bridges. We look at how Pall-Ex makes its pallet deliveries across the city
Navigating the City of Water: How Pall-Ex Italia Makes Pallet Deliveries in Venice
One of the many countries covered by Pall-Ex’s European pallet delivery network is Italy, the home of some of the most beautiful and iconic cities in the world. Arguably the most famous of these is Venice. Known as the City of Water and The City of Bridges, the city is set in a lagoon and built around a complicated series of canals. Defined by its narrow, cobbled streets, pedestrianised Venice is the perfect place to go for a stroll, but transport on wheels has proved to be impossible.
Life in Venice is necessitated through boats. The police, taxi services, and even ambulances are provided to the city through boats. This includes deliveries, which are essential for keeping the city going. Delivery barges are a common sight around the city, dotted around the 180 canals which form the ‘roads’ around the city.
The enormous popularity of the city as a tourist destination means Venice is filled with restaurants, cafes, bars, shops and places of interest which rely on daily deliveries by boat to keep the busy city running.
How does Pall-Ex Italia Make Pallet Deliveries Across Venice?
Pall-Ex strives for quality across its network, so through Pall-Ex Italia, we partner with Hi-Log Logistics, the local company with excellent knowledge and experience of navigating the unusual delivery infrastructure of Venice. There are two Hi-Log/Pall-Ex boats which complete deliveries across the city from Monday to Friday. The boats must remain between the two sides of the Venetian lagoon, between San Giuliano and the famous Lido di Venezia.
Once goods are close to their destination, the rest of the journey must be made on foot, wheeled around the cobbled streets on handcarts. It takes a considerable amount of knowledge to navigate the city, with its huge network of 400 bridges, hidden streets and myriad visitors.
In some cases, our pallets can be delivered to their location using a crane to offload pallets off the boats. However, most of the time it is necessary to open up the pallet and deliver the goods via handcart.
There are currently around 400 third-party transportation permits for third-party delivery boats in Venice, including the two boats dedicated to Pall-Ex palletised freight delivery. The flow of goods around Venice is always busy, but ebbs and flows according to the surge of tourism in the summer months, alongside large events like the prestigious ‘Biennale of Venice’ arts festival and the annual carnival, which welcomes a wave of visitors in late February and early March. The famous mask-filled carnival sees as many as 3 million visitors and demands for products across all sectors see growth in-line with these exceptionally busy seasons.