The Port of Barcelona expects more than 800 cruise ships to call in 2022, a year in which the progress of vaccination, as well as the need for leisure and holidays, are expected to lead to a notable recovery that will culminate in 2023.
Article from CruisesNews magazine no. 60 – March 2022
Meanwhile, infrastructure projects are progressing that will make it a benchmark in environmental management, such as the electrification of docks and the supply of LNG.
Leading cruise port in Europe
After receiving its first cruise ship on June 26, 2021, with the arrival of the MSC Grandiosa, the port of Barcelona has been gradually recovering its cruise activity.
Perhaps the first indicator of Barcelona's recovery has been the sustained cruise activity during the winter of 2021-2022. In December, 33,965 cruise passengers visited Barcelona, while in January of this year, that number reached 30,187. Another key statistic is that in January 2020 there were only two cruise ship calls, compared to 26 in January 2021. Cruise lines such as MSC Cruises, with the MSC Grandiosa and MSC Fantasia, were guests at the docks of Barcelona this past winter. The Carnival group also made its presence felt in Barcelona with calls by the Costa Luminosa, as well as several ships from Aida Cruises, such as the Aida Blu and Aida Stella. Luxury and upper-premium cruise lines also maintained some activity this winter, notably Viking Ocean Cruises, with calls in Barcelona by the Viking Sea and Viking Sky.
March will see a significant increase in activity, with the arrival of the Costa Toscana, Costa Cruises' new flagship, to compete in week-long cruises with MSC Cruises ships.
Barcelona's peak season begins in April. Previously, this coincided with the end of the cruise ship season in the Caribbean and South America. This year, most of these ships have spent the winter laid up and inactive. That month will see the arrival of the MSC Seaview, and the new AidaCosma and Costa Firenze, which will compete every Saturday with the MSC Grandiosa departing from Barcelona.
In April, the Norwegian Epic will arrive once again, renewing Norwegian Cruise Line's commitment to Barcelona. Then, in May, it's Royal Caribbean's turn, sending one of its sister ships from the Oasis series—the largest cruise ships in the world—to the Catalan capital: the Wonder of the Seas. They will complete their offering with the Vision of the Seas starting in June. That same month, the Costa Smeralda will arrive, along with ships from Marella Cruises, such as the Marella Discovery. And the other major German cruise line, TUI Cruises, will begin operating in Barcelona with the Mein Schiff 2, its most modern ship, which, like the Aida, will also be based in Palma de Mallorca, offering interporting services.
Barcelona will be a climate-neutral port by 2050.
But in addition to retaining all the cruise lines mentioned above as clients, the Port of Barcelona is gaining new customers. Virgin Cruises will begin operating in May with the Valiant Lady, its most modern ship.
Celebrity Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Disney, Princess, etc. complete the list of shipowners who are once again betting on Barcelona.
The Docks Electrification Plan
In January 2020, the Port of Barcelona's board of directors approved the drafting of the Docks Electrification Plan, with the aim of having them electrified within seven years.
Previously, the Port of Barcelona had requested a high-voltage (220 kV) connection from the Spanish Electricity Network (REE) to provide approximately 80,000 kW of power to serve docked ships, separate from the existing electricity distribution network. Half of this power would be available at the Moll Adossat dock for cruise ships.
In March 2021, Red Eléctrica confirmed the construction of the Ronda Litoral Substation with a connection for the port of Barcelona, as a preliminary step to be able to undertake the Dock Electrification Plan.
On February 22nd, the Port of Barcelona announced a €110 million investment in its Nexigen project to decarbonize port activity and improve air quality. Of this total, €90 million will be invested in electrifying the docks to connect ships to the main power grid once berthed, providing them with access to clean energy certified as 100% renewable. The remaining €20 million is needed to deploy the network, which includes the Port Substation, the high-voltage connection to the Red Eléctrica Ronda Litoral Substation, and the deployment of the medium-voltage network throughout the port area.
The goal is for the Port of Barcelona to have all its cruise ship berths, the Prat Wharf, and the ferry terminals at Sant Bertran Dock and Costa Wharf electrified by 2030, reducing CO2 emissions by 66,000 tons and NOx emissions by 1,234 tons from port activity. This means “reducing NOx and CO2 emissions from ships while in port by 38% and eliminating 22% of NOx and CO2 emissions from all port activity,” explained Port of Barcelona President Damià Calvet at the presentation of the Nexigen project.
In the long term, the electrification of the docks of the Port of Barcelona will be a key element in achieving the goal of being a climate-neutral port by 2050.
From the Red Eléctrica Española (REE) Ronda Litoral substation, located very close to the Príncep d'Espanya Wharf, a new 220 kV substation in the Port of Barcelona will be supplied via an underground high-voltage cable, enabling the development of a medium-voltage network for the port area to meet the new electricity consumption needs. The project will involve 240 kilometers of electrical cabling, some of it submarine to reach the facilities at the adjacent wharf, where cruise ships operate; and 20.5 kilometers of conduits. The projected consumption of cruise ships at the adjacent wharf is 30,000 MWh/year, which will be supplied via a submarine cable from the Ronda Litoral substation.
The pioneering projects for dock electrification already underway at the two port facilities are progressing well. The two pilot projects—the Hutchison Ports BEST terminal project, initiated last January and currently in the permitting process, and the Barcelona Ferry Terminal project, whose tender will begin in April 2022—are moving along smoothly, although it is crucial that the administrative procedures be carried out efficiently, especially regarding the application for access and connection to the new Ronda Litoral Substation of the Spanish Electricity Network. The Port of Barcelona anticipates "making the first electrical connections for ships at the BEST container terminal and the Barcelona Ferry Terminal between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024," according to Ana Arévalo, Energy Transition Manager at the Port of Barcelona.
Damià Calvet, in the presentation of the Nexigen project, declared that "With Nexigen we are preparing for the future and it will allow the Port of Barcelona to be in the first division of the decarbonization of port, maritime and logistics activity.".
LNG
bunkering, or supplying LNG to ships. The Port of Barcelona handled a total of 236 LNG bunkering operations throughout 2021, amounting to 65,050 cubic meters, a 66% increase compared to 2020, despite the slowdown in cruise ship activity and rising prices, particularly during the winter of 2021-22. In 2019, 37,500 cubic meters were supplied, and in 2020, 39,150 cubic meters.
MSC Cruises' new terminal in Barcelona will be operational in 2024.
This fuel is primarily used by ferries, mainly those operated by Balearia, and also by Carnival Group cruise ships (Costa, Aida, and P&O). While more sustainable than conventional fuel, it does not eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. The Port Authority of Barcelona attributes much of this increase to the use of this fuel by the Balearia fleet, which has operated from Barcelona using LNG, accounting for 27,000 cubic meters, or 41% of the total. Furthermore, the company carried out its first pilot operation this year supplying BioLNG to the catamaran Eleanor Roosevelt. These operations were generally performed from truck to ship.
The remaining 38,000 cubic meters of LNG supplied in Barcelona in 2021 ended up in the tanks of several cruise ships, in ship-to-ship bunkering operations. They generally used the Dutch vessel Coral Methane, chartered by Shell and a frequent visitor to the Catalan port, as a barge, supplying LNG from various Spanish plants to ships such as the Mardi Gras, Costa Smeralda, AidaNova, and Costa Toscana. This figure is significant because cruise activity in Barcelona did not resume until the end of June 2021, which forced Costa Cruises, for example, to bunker LNG in La Spezia until then. The Carnival group accounted for 59% of the LNG supplies, carrying out a total of 18 bunkering operations.
Barcelona is the leading port in Spain for supplying LNG to ships, with remarkable growth in 2021 despite the pandemic.
The port authority expects continued growth in LNG use for ferries and cruise ships in 2022. This summer, three Carnival Group ships—the Costa Toscana, Costa Smeralda, and Aida Cosma—will use LNG in Barcelona. Barcelona will also welcome the MSC World Europa, MSC Cruises' first LNG-powered cruise ship, in the summer of 2023.
To promote its use, the Port of Barcelona applies a 50% discount on the T1 fee - which the ship pays when it docks -, a 30% discount on the commercial discount for using LNG and an additional 10% if non-polluting fuels are also used during the last stop to the port.
New Terminal for MSC Cruises.
On February 16, 2022, Fernando Pacheco, Managing Director of MSC Cruises in Spain, emphasized that MSC Cruises is developing an exclusive cruise terminal in Barcelona, which it will operate and manage for a period of 31 years. This project represents an estimated investment of €33 million by the company, and MSC Cruises expects the new terminal, designed by the recently deceased Ricardo Bofill, to enter service in 2024. This new MSC Cruises terminal project began in 2017, and according to initial plans, it should have been inaugurated in 2021.
The Nexigen plan will be the first large-scale electrification of docks in Spain.
Its actual beginning dates back to May 31, 2021, the date on which MSC Cruises obtained final approval from the Board of Directors of the Port of Barcelona to build and operate this exclusive cruise terminal, with 11,670 square meters distributed over three levels, for a period of 31 years.
The new MSC Cruises terminal will be equipped from the factory with power outlets that will allow the diesel engines to be shut down while cruise ships are docked, as well as for LNG refueling. This includes MSC World Europa, the brand's first LNG-powered cruise ship, which is currently under construction in France and will enter service in 2022.
