Salvage and Removal Plan for Lake Lido Pontoon Tenace
The pontoon Tenace was not dishonorably sunk into the waters of the Lido gulf to get rid of it once and for all. It was simply moved a few meters to allow, in conditions of “urgent necessity,” the Navigarda to retrieve the decommissioned mooring.
And since Garda is not a dumping ground and no one can afford to dispose of such a bulky and useless wreck by accident, the Comitato manifestazioni rivane, likely owner of the floating platform, will bear the cost of the entire salvage operation. Surely a multimillion-euro expense.
The fate of the pontoon after use
After its glory days at the Notte di Fiaba, the pontoon ended up moored in the Lido gulf. Later, a landslide and the dumping of rocks into the lake displaced the Navigarda from a pier on Lungolago D’Annunzio.
Since the company needs seven moorings in Riva for its boats, the decommissioned one at Lido had to be recovered.
Dr. Menestrina, head of the provincial transport service responsible for ports, had urged in August 2000 the Comitato manifestazioni, represented by President Enzo Bassetti, to remove the wreck.
Recovery actions and interventions
Certainly a nuisance, but manageable as long as Tenace was three meters from the shore. Since the pontoon remained there, by late March 2001, the province, constantly pressed by Navigarda, lost patience and took action, citing “urgent necessity.”
The Navigarda, informally and in a completely friendly manner, agreed to lend a hand: it was the Tonale ferry, the most powerful and largest in the lake fleet, to tug the Tenace, attached to sturdy steel cables, ripping it from the inertia of sinking three meters from the shore, and dragging it offshore.
A few meters: enough for the boats to moor at the requested pier safely. But it was only a temporary move: a forced clearance prompted by the impossibility, now at the end of March, to do things properly.
On April 6, the Provincial Service notified the Comitato manifestazioni of the obligation to recover and remove the Tenace from the lakebed within 20 days. Otherwise, the province will proceed itself, with subsequent charging of all expenses, deducting any proceeds from the sale of the metal.
The Tenace must be retrieved, brought to the surface, and directed to its fate: scrapping or reuse, at the owner’s discretion.
The work will cost millions and must be entrusted to a specialized underwater recovery company. According to technicians, the operation might be carried out in two phases.
First, the Tenace must be lifted with a crane loaded onto another pontoon, just to the water’s surface, and then moved in navigation to an open beach where a large crane can be used to extract the wreck from the water.
A similar crane could not be placed among the cypresses of the Lido: otherwise, it would have already been arranged.
