Europe: 94 liners emit ten times more sulfur dioxide than 260 million cars

More than 7 million passengers and 20 billion euros in economic benefits: in Europe, the success of the cruise is undeniable. Costa, MSC, CroisiEurope or even Ponant: a total of 40 cruise companies, managing 137 ships, are domiciled in Europe, where 75 other ships are also deployed by around twenty non-European companies. In 2018, a total of 7.17 million European passengers took a sea cruise, an increase of 3.3% over one year. However, beyond the economic stakes, cruise ships represent a major health risk for populations living in major European port cities.

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According to a report published on Wednesday by the NGO Transport & Environment, the world leader in luxury cruises, Carnival Corporation, alone emitted in 2017 ten times more sulfur oxide around the European coasts than all of the 260 million cars in the European fleet. A colossal figure for a company that has a fleet of 94 boats, half of which operate in Europe. The world number two, Royal Caribbean, notably owner of the largest liner in the world - the Symphony of the Seas - has rejected four times more.

60,000 premature deaths per year

The Old Continent is the second destination for cruises, behind the Caribbean. In the Mediterranean, Barcelona is the first port in number of passengers, followed by Civitavecchia, Palma de Mallorca, Marseille and Venice. Spain, Italy, Greece, France and Norway are therefore the countries most exposed to sulfur dioxide emissions, according to the Transport & Environment study. In Marseille, the eighth most impacted city on the continent, the 57 cruise ships that stopped there in 2017 emitted four times more sulfur dioxide than all vehicles circulating in the city.

In 2015, researchers from the University of Rostock, in Germany, had already warned of the effects of pollution linked to maritime transport, which would be responsible for 60,000 premature deaths per year in Europe. One of the main reasons would be the poor quality of the fuels used by these giants of the oceans: a heavy fuel oil whose fumes are much more toxic than diesel, which is also decried.

Towards “zero emission ports”?

But, according to this report, the pollution also extends to the fumes of nitrogen oxides, another very toxic gas, but also fine particles in large quantities. A cocktail that dangerously harms air quality in major European port cities. In Marseilles, ships are thus the source of 10% of atmospheric pollution. And it is not likely to stop. Sixty ships are in the order books of major companies for deliveries by 2021. “We are often accused in the media of being the cause of overtourism, because we are visible, especially when all the passengers get off the boat at the same time. But we only represent 5% of visitors from Venice or Barcelona, ​​the rest arriving by plane in particular, ”said Tor Christian Sletner, vice-president in charge of government affairs at Clia Europe, the association federating the profession, last April.

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Transport & Environment calls on the European Union to extend the Sulfur Emission Control Area (SECA) - which since 2015 has forced ships to use fuel whose sulfur content cannot exceed 0.1% - to any Europe, because today it does not concern the ports of the Mediterranean basin. The NGO also asks to accelerate the transition towards “zero emission ports” by betting on the electrification of the quays. And to also appeal to the municipalities which "rightly ban diesel cars", but which "always grant a pass to shipping companies which threaten the health of cruise passengers and local residents". At the initiative of the French government, a working group was set up to convince the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to classify the Mediterranean rim and the Atlantic coasts as SECA.

»SEE ALSO – Italy: an out of control cruise ship hits a dock in Venice

The question of accident-related risks is also raised. In Venice on Sunday, a huge MSC liner hit a quay and then a tourist boat while trying to moor, causing panic and causing four minor injuries, and also relaunching the debate on the risks and damage that these giants entail for the Serenissima seas landing very close to St. Mark's Square. Last Wednesday on the Danube, in the heart of Budapest, a collision between a 135-meter cruise ship and a 26-meter boat carrying South Korean tourists left seven dead and 21 missing.