MedCruise member Venezia Terminal Passeggeri (VTP) – the company that manages the terminals for cruise ships across the areas of Marittima, St. Basilio and Riva dei Sette Martiri in Venice – announces to be the recipient of Premio Innovazione SMAU, thanks to its Multipurpose Boarding Tower (MBT) project, active since 2011.
Premio Innovazione SMAU is a significant recognition in the IT sector, conferred by SMAU to those companies whose outstanding innovation and technology skills accelerate the growth and the competitiveness of the solutions across local and international markets.
The Multipurpose Boarding Tower (MBT) is a solution developed by VTP Engineering, a subsidiary company of VTP S.p.A, which facilitates the boarding and the disembarkment of passengers -even more than 2000 per hour- from cruise ships. MBT is a multifunctional mobile tower able to automatically adjust itself to the level of the tide, with an integrated security system to access the dock.
It is also equipped with elevators to link the dock, terminal and vessel, regardless of the height of the boarding ramp, and provides passengers (especially those with reduced mobility), dock operators and crew with several alternative routes. One of most innovative features of the MBT is how the gangway is anchored to the ship, to guarantee the maximum level of security, also in adverse weather conditions.
Galliano Di Marco, Managing Director of VTP commented: “We are very satisfied and proud to receive this award. Projects ideated by VTP Engineering, such as the MBT, position VTP very distinctively as a company able to develop innovative products to better manage passengers’ flow, to decrease the amount of time spent by ships in ports and to reduce the energetic consumptions connected to the port activities. In addition, thanks to the 70 million of euros investments put in place from 1997 to 2017, we boosted the efficiency of the infrastructures, reducing the impact on the environment and increasing the comfort and security of passengers”.
Photo (left): Gabriele Zecchin, VTP Technical Area Manager
Photo (top): L-R Galliano Di Marco, VTP Managing Director; Gabriele Zecchin, VTP Technical Area Manager
