The cruise industry calls for more public investment to achieve decarbonization by 2050

• The cruise sector claims to be promoting the recovery of tourism in a sustainable way, but environmental organizations criticize its progress.
• The industry calls for more support from public entities to achieve decarbonization by 2050.

The cruise market is recovering rapidly following pandemic restrictions.

According to estimates by the Italian consultancy Risposte Turismo for the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), European Mediterranean countries could receive 48.6 million cruise passenger movements in 2023, which would mean returning to levels similar to those of 2019, when 53.3 million were reached.

Of these, more than 22 million would be concentrated in Italy and Spain, while Barcelona would remain the most important European cruise port.

Hand in hand with ports and destinations, the industry claims to be promoting the recovery of tourism in a sustainable way, with significant investments in R+D and increasingly sustainable ships, but environmental organizations do not think the same.

The ranking of cruises of the German NGO NABU, which has evaluated for the tenth year the measures and objectives of the companies that make route on European coasts in relation to polluting emissions, does not leave the large cruise companies in a good place.

NABU summarizes the requirements for a climate- and environmentally-friendly cruise through 2040. It has assessed 19 shipping companies based on the extent to which they are already planning and implementing climate protection measures in the short and medium term.

Hurtigruten Norway, the Norwegian shipping company that took the top spot only got half of the possible points, and all other companies “suspended”.

Among the worst ranked are MSC Cruises, Costa Cruises or Norwegian Cruise Lines. The results show that cruise companies make promises and announcements, but have so far done little in concrete terms to improve the situation, according to those responsible for the study.

Environmental groups criticize that heavy fuel continues to dominate the market and that order books include almost exclusively Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) vessels or that there are more and more ships with shore connection capacity, but their actual use remains very low.

The reason for these decisions and what awaits the cruise industry, which represents only 1% of the marine fleet worldwide, are questions that Alfredo Serrano, director of CLIA in Spain, has been able to solve in an interview for Business Insider Spain.

LNG is a transition fuel

CLIA members – who operate 95% of the world’s cruise ship fleet – have committed to pursuing the goal of net-zero carbon cruise by 2050, as part of the global push to decarbonise the shipping sector. An objective that, according to Serrano, goes far beyond what the rest of international maritime transport has done.

“We are surprised that, if what you want is to make international shipping more sustainable, there is a lot of talk about something that represents less than 1% and barely talks about the other 99%,” he explains.

Serrano recalls that the cruise sector accounts for only 30 million travelers out of a total of 1,400 million tourists in the world, according to data from the World Tourism Organization.

“We are a sector that grows a lot and that is talked about a lot, sometimes not for good, but that represents a small part of tourism,” he says, in relation to the pressure of environmental organizations.

The association says that the benefits are already being obtained today and that the alternative fuels that are being explored right now include a number of options such as biofuels, synthetic fuels, ammonia and methanol.

Hybrid solutions, such as new generations of fuel cells to further reduce carbon emissions, and battery storage systems are also being investigated.

As for the use of LNG criticized by environmental groups, Serrano explains that “today it is the most ecological, greenest and cleanest propulsion platform there is,” which is capable of propelling a ship of the dimensions of a cruise ship. “That is indisputable,” he insists.

Over the next 15 years, CLIA’s entire fleet will be powered by LNG, which produces 0 sulfur emissions, 85% less nitrogen oxides, reduces particulate matter emissions by almost 100% and up to 20% of greenhouse gases.

“Obviously, it is a transition fuel, because it is a fossil fuel that continues to emit CO₂. But it is the best technology that exists. We are investing and we are asking our suppliers to invest in the development of more sustainable fuels, but they are not yet available,” he says.

According to Serrano, ships that currently use LNG will be able to adapt to other technologies such as hydrogen as soon as they are available, since they are prepared for it.

Dependence on public entities to achieve objectives

“No matter how much hydrogen and lithium ship I want to build, there are no investments from countries that assure me that I will be able to supply myself in their ports with hydrogen to be able to start the ships,” Fernando Pacheco, managing director of MSC Cruises in Spain, said in an interview with Business Insider Spain.

“LNG is the only transition element we have for the next 8 or 10 years. There is no other option,” adds the manager.

According to Pacheco, if they could stock up on hydrogen, they would surely speed up the processes to be able to build hydrogen ships. Despite this, he considers that it does not look much that Spanish ports can guarantee it.

“Sustainability can not only be born from private investment, it necessarily comes from a public investment as well, which are the ports and infrastructures that a ship needs to be able to refuel,” says Pacheco.

The industry insists that any private project that tries to work for sustainability must always be supported by other public entities.

Along these lines, the cruise sector is facing challenges similar to those of aviation. The current market for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) is not enough to achieve air decarbonization by 2050, so the sector asks the Administration for subsidies and incentives to boost production.

For Serrano, the situation of shipping companies is even worse: “Civil aviation represents a very high percentage of total aviation and, when airlines push in one direction, they can generate a market for fuel and engine manufacturers. We are only 1% and environmentalists should put pressure on the whole sector.”

According to CLIA, this would allow engine manufacturers and fuel producers to invest to create such engines and alternative fuels for shipping. “Our ability to influence is more limited,” says Serrano.

Despite this, CLIA celebrates that the European Union addresses all maritime transport, “without discrimination”, with initiatives such as Fit for 55.

“They have to be European or even global initiatives. We fully share the objectives of the Fit for 55 package and we believe that this is where this type of policy has to be discussed and promoted, because it is impossible to manage it if each country does something different. The most important thing is to listen to the sector,” he adds.

Mains boats and ports without connection

On the road to decarbonization, in addition to the commitment to alternative fuels, the sector has invested in equipping the buses so that they have the capacity to connect electricity to land while they are in port, which allows the engines to be turned off.

The problem is that actual usage is still very low. Only 6 European ports currently offer shore electricity; that is why CLIA urges governments to invest more in infrastructure of this type.

According to the association, around 2 thirds of the global fleet will be able to connect to shore-based electricity in the next 5 years. Currently, nearly 40% of global cruise capacity is equipped to connect to shore-based electricity, compared to just 2% of the world’s ports that have at least one cruise berth with connecting capability.

“We can only invest so that our ships are prepared and commit that any ship that visits a port that has the possibility to connect will connect. We can also encourage those responsible for each country to invest in that sense, “insists Serrano.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has committed to increasing the percentage of its fleet with shore feeding capacity to 70% by 2025.

Cruise lines are deploying technologically advanced onboard systems to reduce waste and sort materials for recycling, as well as wastewater treatment systems at a higher level than many coastal cities.

Ultimately, building new ships is only part of the equation: to achieve its goals, the industry will need access to the right infrastructure and sustainable fuel supply.

“We recognize that the future of our business is closely related to the health of our oceans and the destinations we visit,” they say from NCL.

Source: Business Insider