Alan Lam reporting from Hamburg
While the emphasis on a greener and more sustainable cruise industry remains unchanged, the political environment and social attitudes, especially in Europe, towards cruising have shifted. They have become much more hostile to the very idea of cruising. Part of the reason for this is due to the fact that the industry has been misrepresented by the sensational media and misunderstood by the public in general.
The sector now faces an increased urgency to made greater and faster strides in the direction of sustainability it was already travelling. The ultimate goal is the utterly uncompromising zero-emission cruising, a goal it now must attain much sooner than previously anticipated
This posts fresh and additional challenges to the industry. It also changes the existing perimeters. While the NOx and SOx emission compliances, which are local issues, can be addressed by the likes of the LNG technology, the issue of GHG emission, which is a global problem, demands an entirely different solution.
The industry has just entered the age of LNG, but this form of fossil fuel will soon become no longer compliant with the incoming environmental regulations. One of the most unpalatable outcomes of this development is that it will make ports and destinations hesitate on investing in LNG infrastructure, while LNG-powered ships are just beginning to roll off the production line. Cruise lines are now in danger of being left with a fleet of LNG-powered ships that have no bunkering facilities to support them.
The industry must therefore endeavour to hold back the speed of regulatory advancement, as it needs to operate at least one generation of LNG-powered ships to recuperate its massive investment, before letting them become defunct.
At the same time, the focus must also go beyond LNG, onto battery, hydrogen and other feasible options.
But this is an immense challenge, as using batteries to power mega cruise ships is still a tall order, not to mention all the necessary landside infrastructure investment required worldwide. Unlike the ferry industry where only one or two ports need to have the necessary supporting facilities to make the operations viable, cruise ships need a cohesive global service infrastructure development if the battery or hydrogen technology solution is to be adopted.
The industry must also be careful that in finding a solution for a problem it does not end up creating another as the result. Energy sources are still needed to charge the batteries or generate hydrogen.
CruiseBusiness.com Magazine correspondent is at the Seatrade Cruise & River Cruise Convention, attending discussion sessions and talking to industry insiders about sustainability and zero-emission cruising. A full analytical article on this topic will appear in our winter issue.
