Green cruise development in the North Sea Region

These were key points from the GreenPort Cruise1 conference held in Hamburg on 13 September 2011.

However, disquiet was also expressed about the rising numbers of cruise passengers who risked swamping popular cities, and the passengers’ reluctance to pay for greening the industry.

Dr Bernd Egert, State Secretary, Hamburg’s Ministry of Economy, Transport and ‘Innovation’, opened the event which was organised in association with Cruise Gateway North Sea, an EU Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme and the European Cruise Council (ECC).

He stressed that while the continuing growth of the European cruise sector has brought success and ongoing opportunity, there were also significant issues concerning environmental impact and sustainability that need to be addressed.

Considering how these might be tackled was at centre stage for the rest of the day as delegates discussed the extent of the environmental challenge and strategies for response on board ship, at the quay side and at land-based cruise destinations.

Tightening environmental requirements needs investment
Robert Ashdown from the European Cruise Council (ECC) expressed the cruise industry’s concern that the tightening of environmental regulations and requirements for sustainable management of air quality, sewage, waste, recycling and ballast water will require significant investment both by cruise ships and ports. With such tight links between the two he suggested there should be much closer co-operation. This might enable more standard approaches to be developed and operated across the sector.

Dealing with destination pressure
Discussions concerning the development of more ‘sustainable land-based cruise tourism’ were opened by Peter Antoni (C&T Gmbh). As a number of destinations face increasing pressure from rising numbers of visitors there is a need for new destinations to be developed. Providing greener land based transport solutions is challenging, it was agreed, and catering for large numbers inevitably generates waste. Peer–Erik Carlsson from the City of Gothenburg introduced his cities environmental diploma scheme for businesses and events which recognises their ‘greening’.

Prepared to pay to be green?
The willingness of cruise passengers to pay for ‘greening’ was tabled, including schemes such as carbon offsetting. The general feeling, informed partly by the Alaskan market which has apparently seen a downturn in bookings since the introduction of a ‘climate tax’, was that there was a long way to go before this might be generally accepted as a price to be paid. Is there a competitive advantage to being green? There is still a lack of evidence on this. David Ralph (Haven Gateway) suggested that a better strategy might be to make a fantastic holiday as green as possible rather than marketing a green holiday.

What ports should deliver to be attractive cruise destinations
Ports need to respond to the cruise lines requirements, meeting environmental regulations and improving sustainability. This means having convenient and adequate reception facilities available for general waste, sewage and ballast water, together with the capability to receive and handle recyclables. Also key are infrastructures to support emissions reductions such as onshore power supply and LNG bunkering. It is thought that the new requirements for handling waste water in the Baltic area are likely to be difficult to implement, particularly for smaller ports.

As ships performance improves, Bastian Tesching from AIDA Cruises would like to see ports offering incentives to ships performing well on all environmental sectors, not just based on their emissions levels. “What ports need to do is to allow ships to deliver environmental change as cheaply and effectively as possible” concluded Robert Ashdown.

Co-operative opportunities
Tony Peisley, cruise industry specialist and event moderator, brought the day to a close in a lively session looking at the opportunities faced by cruise ports in developing short and long term strategies. David Ralph (Haven Gateway) suggested there should be greater clarity about what the competitive advantage is for ‘greening cruise’ in the North Sea Region / Baltic corridor.

A more co-ordinated approach between ports and the cruise sector was re-emphasised by Peter Antoni, enabling cruise liners to have one approach. Bastian Tesching, AIDA, agreed. The critical areas to be addressed by ports, he suggested, are the availability of LNG bunkering facilities; necessary waste water reception facilities in the Baltic area and provision of quality waste disposal facilities.

With the opportunities it provides to facilitate closer co-operation between stakeholders, the Cruise Gateway project is clearly timely and is expected to make a difference to the North Sea Region.

The Cruise Gateway Project
The cruise industry is the fastest growing sector in tourism today. The Cruise Gateway project is looking at the opportunities for development of the North Sea Region as an attractive and sustainable cruise destination area, delivering economic and social benefit.

The aim is to develop long term solutions addressing the environmental friendliness of the cruise fleets, cruise ports and land based cruise tourism activities (http//www.cruisegateway.eu).

Greenport Cruise delegates were able to get ‘out and about’ during the programme and participate in a practical tour. HanseCC provided a guided tour of the new cruise terminal facility in Altona. This was completed in spring 2011 (www.hamburgcruisecenter.eu).

There was an introduction to the ongoing sustainable development of the Hafencity area of Hamburg with a walking tour and harbour trip (www.hafencity.com/ en/home.html). AIDA also provided a visit to one of its cruise ships.