Tuesday, May 20, 2025 - 10:21 by ce-press
Barbara Agersnap, ceo CMP, opened the session with details of the port’s onshore power supply installation and future green fuels (see also below), adding: “We will be rolling out a handful of initiatives together with Cruise Denmark - Copenhagen & Beyond, including a visitors’ reward initiative.”
Carnival Maritime’s Richard Cooke, senior manager port operations & destination management, reassuringly said that itinerary planning is driven by where guests want to go, rather than by where there is OPS. Right now 70 percent of the Carnival fleet is shore-power ready and by 2028, 25 percent will be LNG-powered.
Heike Naigur, senior director sustainability at Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, highlighted the use of sustainability as a connective tissue between various stakeholders: “We are running out of time so we need to be in this altogether”.
In terms of penalties and incentives such as the EPI scheme, she commented: “I think some of the programmes work well. Across the region it would be good to have a strategy.”
While Linden Coppell, vp sustainability & ESG MSC Cruises, said: “I think EPI served a really good service when it came to Norwegian heritage fjords, as it helped with messaging to the Norwegian government. But we need to make sure it is not just another revenue scheme. We are seeing a plethora of charges all over Europe. We also want revenues to come back into port development, whether that be supporting OPS, accessibility for travellers, etc.” She cited the example of Iceland “introducing a hefty charge overnight”, leading to some cancellations.
With respect to OPS, Coppell said MSC Cruises had a target last year of plugging in 250 calls but realistically this was nearer 150, due to technical challenges which she said there will always be. In terms of OPS, she was direct in saying: “We still have 450 berths [in Europe] that need OPS by 2030 at a cost of €1.5 billion. We need realistic solutions.”
For the first time, the airline industry was included in the conference with input from Copenhagen Airport and SAS, both of whom value the cruise sector as a growing part of their business, with the latter actively putting on extra flights/routes to cater to fly/cruise passengers. Maria Skott, chief sustainability officer CA, said: “It may be a possibility to have different charging vis emissions and fuel from different aircraft.”
