Every move is an operation in itself.
Artworks, crates, installations: we carry them by water and deliver them where the truck can’t reach, right inside the palazzi of the historic centre. The crane vessels handle weight and bulk — sculptures, plinths, display elements — and the PVC cover, with rigid cabins on request, protects the loads from rain and spray. The crews are trained in handling delicate materials and know the canals, tides and docks of every sestiere.
From crating to installation, a single point of contact.
Transport is the core, but on its own it is rarely enough. Around the work we provide the services that let you entrust the whole operation to one contact:
- Bespoke crates and packingwe have dedicated crates and packing made when the work calls for it, or when the client asks.
- Placement and installation on sitewe don’t stop at delivery to the room: we set the work where it belongs.
- Art handlingteams for manual handling, where and when needed.
- Customs operations and ATA carnettemporary import and export for works to and from abroad.
- Permits and waterway ZTLtransit and mooring in restricted-traffic canals.
- Disposal of packing and waste materialsafter de-installation, through an authorised chain.
- Insurance cover for the workon request, a dedicated all-risk policy matched to the declared value.
We store crates and installations between exhibitions.
A thousand square metres on the mainland and two hundred in central Venice: covered space to keep crates, packed works and display materials between one installation and the next. Having storage a few minutes by water from the location — not an hour away on the mainland — means quick turnarounds, less handling and less risk for what is moved.
Six vessels with crane
An owned fleet: twenty in all, six fitted with a crane up to 20 tonne-metres, with PVC covers and rigid cabins on request. Brunetto enters the narrowest canals of the historic centre; El Nini, the flagship, lifts and carries what other craft can’t. We also have slimmer boats — Catilina, Rivollina and Oscarina — for quick reconnaissance through canals and lagoon.
Where we land, and with which boat.
The right boat depends on the landing: a narrow canal, a jetty on the Grand Canal or an island dock each call for different craft. So we match fleet to water access in the places where art is handled in Venice.
The structure that tenders require.
A management system certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 (URS): for many institutional clients and public tenders it’s the requirement that opens the door. We handle customs ourselves — ATA Carnet for works in temporary import and export — and operate in line with the Soprintendenza’s procedures for protected items. A single point of contact for transport and paperwork, not one more problem for you.
A work doesn’t wait. Nor do we.
Twenty vessels mean real redundancy: if one boat stops, another takes its place. The crews plan routes around the tides, so fog and high water become managed variables, not surprises that halt the work. When there’s an opening date that can’t move, knowing the boat will arrive is the difference that counts.
Tell us what you need to move and when the show opens.
We’ll reply with an operational plan.