River Tagus in Portugal

[pontac]

Anyone know why there doesn't appear to be any river cruises on the Tagus?

 

I'm assuming there has to be some reason, such as it not being navigable or not allowed by the Portuguese authorities, but anyone know the reason for definite?

 

The Programme Director on our recent cruise said the Douro was  Portugal's longest river, but that isn't so, it's Taguas, and Tagus is the river that Lisbon sits on so easy access for international visitors.

[Canal archive]

Could be because there are several dams on the river for cultivation and other reasons.

[notamermaid]

Good question. I have no direct answer but the Tagus is apparently not an easy river to make navigable. At least not in Spain. Geography. Historically and logistically speaking, river cruising follows commercial shipping, i.e. only a river that has been used and made relatively safe and efficiently to use by transport is then used for transport of humans and then used for transport of humans for leisure. If the Spanish did not consider it commercially viable or necessary for transport they just did not do it. In Portugal it is a little different and there appear to be short leisure boat trips in the Lisbon area. Again, leisure follows commercial transport. I am not convinced that in Portugal it would make sense to introduce river cruising now but perhaps a company is still looking into it. Unless the authorities categorically prohibit large ships anyway. On the Danube beyond Kelheim for example you can use motorboats, the river is navigable for some length and suitable for that, but the authorities do not allow it. In Portugal by the way the river only has a length of 145km.

 

CroisiEurope for example introduced river cruising to the Loire, a notoriously shallow river not suitable for large transport that had never seen a river cruise ship ever before the Loire Princess was put on the water in 2015. Some rivers just do not work and that particular river cruise ship was specifically built for that river, it looks different from any other ship.

 

Canal archive mentions dams, so those, if not built with a lock, block a river for traffic of course.

 

I suspect there may be something with the authorities as the river is not registered officially as a waterway. Here is a page where you can download maps. You can see that the Tagus is not marked: https://unece.org/where-navigate-network-inland-waterways-europe-and-its-parameters

 

notamermaid