The Cruise Sustainability Council, promoted by the Port of Barcelona and made up of administrations, entities and organizations related to this sector, has held its first plenary meeting of the year.
The meeting focused on evaluating the environmental, social, and mobility initiatives implemented during its first year of operation and preparing the roadmap for 2024, ensuring the continuity of the actions already underway.
During the plenary meeting held on the 8th of this month, the three Working Groups -environmental quality, mobility and socio-economic- explained the current status of the various actions being carried out.
Among the topics that were the focus of the meeting were:
- The Port of Barcelona's agreement with the cruise industry to avoid supplying water to ships in emergency situations due to drought.
- The entry of the maritime sector into the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ERES) and the possible impacts on the cruise industry.
- The projects promoted to monitor the mobility of cruise passengers and promote new areas of interest for these audiences.
- The initiatives undertaken by the Economic and Social Group in collaboration with CLIA and the Barcelona Education Consortium to identify job opportunities in the sector.
The president of the Port of Barcelona, Lluís Salvadó, has taken stock of the milestones achieved during 2023 in compliance with the 2018 agreement with the Barcelona City Council to move cruise activity away from urban areas, concentrating it on the Adossat dock and making it more sustainable.
One of the most significant aspects has been the closure, at the beginning of October, of the Barcelona Nord dock for cruise and ferry operations, which means moving some 340 annual ship calls more than 3 kilometers away from urban areas.
Regarding 2024, Salvadó noted that the process has already begun to tender the first Onshore Power Supply (OPS) system at a cruise terminal to supply renewable energy to ships while they are docked, thus reducing emissions.
This is the OPS that will be installed in the future MSC Cruises terminal, currently under construction at the Adossat dock.
The president of the Port of Barcelona has confirmed that an increasing number of cruise ships are using LNG as a transition fuel. This year, 22% of cruise ship calls at the Port of Barcelona will be by LNG-powered vessels; this eliminates up to 70% of nitrogen oxide emissions and up to 20% of CO₂ emissions compared to traditional fuels.
In the coming months, the Port will continue to make progress in fulfilling its commitments with the tender for the seventh and final cruise terminal to be installed at the Adossat dock; the commissioning of the new terminal that MSC Cruises is currently building and the closure, in 2026, of the South cruise terminal at the Barcelona dock.
Compliance with the agreement with the City Council represents a total investment of approximately 335 million euros, of which 140 million correspond to the Port of Barcelona and 195 million to private investment.
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