European Ports Move Forward to Develop Sustainable Cruise Industry

Representatives of the main European cruise ports have begun to work on finding ways to help shape the cruise industry of the future. 

On October 18, 2019, the working group’s first meeting called “Cruise 2030:Call for Action” was held in Venice.

The meeting was held on the premises of the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority whose president, Pino Musolino, had invited his colleagues last July to assess the situation and start working together on a program to contribute to innovate the sector.

#Cruise2030: a call for action to work on a set of solutions to mitigate and reduce the effects that cruise industry has on historical #portcities. All the involved ports are bringing their contributions to define a set of goals and actions @SDGoals @aivp_net @ESPOSecretariat pic.twitter.com/QCzn7FdMs2

— Port of Venice (@PortOfVenice) October 18, 2019

It was attended by representatives of seven of the main cruise destinations in Europe, namely Amsterdam, Palma de Mallorca, Bergen, Cannes, Dubrovnik, Malaga, Marseille Fos.

As explained, the main goal of the initiative is to delineate a common platform of customized strategies to support the development of the cruise industry in a sustainable manner, with the aim of matching more the needs of the industry with the demands of the cities and territories.

The participants have all agreed upon the importance of the economic and occupational aspects of the cruise industry but, at the same time, they have found fundamental the need to intervene in a coordinated way to reduce or eliminate the impacts and burdens related to the cruise industry, rethinking together with the operators the business model so far adopted.

What is more, the participants have agreed to work towards the drafting of a common action plan that would be adopted as a working document.

The next meeting will take place in Palma de Mallorca in January 2020.

The initiative to develop a new form of sustainable cruising came following an incident involving a cruise ship in Venice. In June, MSC Opera cruise vessel crashed into a dock in Venice, hitting a tourist boat. After the incident, a plan was proposed by the Italian government to ban cruise vessels in this historic city.