Costa Cruises Inks Genoa Blue Agreement for Genoa, Savona Ports

Italian cruise line Costa Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation, has signed the Genoa Blue Agreement promoted by the Genoa and Savona coast guard offices.

The document requires ships to use marine gasoil with a sulfur content not exceeding 0.10% by mass before entering the ports of Savona and Genoa, and not only while the ship is moored as required by current legislation.

“By signing up to the ‘Genoa Blue Agreement’ protocol today, we have further strengthened our commitment to reducing the environmental impact of our ships. The commitment enshrined in the protocol today is one that Costa made voluntarily some years ago,” Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises, commented.

“We are also pleased to see that other shipping companies and other maritime sectors have also signed up to this commitment, which will further benefit the communities we visit daily,” he added.

The Genoa Blue Agreement also reiterates the effectiveness of exhaust gas cleaning systems. In fact, where these systems are used – at the same distances and time requested for the change of marine fuels – the rules introduced are considered to be fully respected.

At the moment, over 70% of ships in the Costa fleet are already equipped with scrubbers which ensure the almost complete removal of sulfur oxides, a 75% reduction of particulates and a significant reduction of nitrogen oxides.

Signing up to the Genoa Blue Agreement is seen as a further step on the sustainable growth journey undertaken by Costa Cruises in Genoa, Savona and Liguria.

Since the end of March, Costa Fortuna, one of the ships in the Costa fleet, has returned to docking regularly in the port of Genoa, where it expects to handle 170,000 passengers in 2019.

Costa Cruises has already confirmed that Costa Pacifica will be docking in Genoa in 2020 instead of Costa Fortuna.

In total, the Costa Group will make 243 calls to the Liguria region in 2019, equivalent to around 1,200,000 passengers handled. Savona is currently Costa’s main port in the world.

The company and the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority are making significant investments in preparation for the arrival of Costa Smeralda, Costa’s first ship fueled by LNG. The total investments amount to more than EUR 20 million.

In La Spezia, Costa Cruises, together with other companies, has won the contract to manage the port’s cruise services, which includes the construction of a new cruise terminal. In 2019, Costa Group ships will make 50 calls at the port of La Spezia.