Euroviews. Green innovations are powering the cruise industry toward net zero

Last week, Cruise Port Rotterdam announced that onshore power supply, powered by wind and solar energy, will be available for cruise ships before the end of this year for cruise ships.

Rotterdam is just one of many ports installing the infrastructure as ports work to meet the EU’s regulatory deadline to provide onshore power to ships by 2030.

This technology, introduced by the cruise industry more than 20 years ago, can significantly reduce emissions by allowing ships to switch off engines and plug into an onshore power source to maintain onboard services.

Today, about 50% of all cruise ships have the technology required to plug in at the small percentage of ports that currently have the infrastructure. By 2028, more than 80% of cruise ships will have the ability to “plug in” while in port where onshore power is available.

This is one visible example of how cruise travel is changing as part of a collective effort to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

In pursuit of this critical target, cruise ships are evolving too—though not in terms of size, as some might believe.

However, since the question of size is on the table, let me say that most cruise ships sailing today (about 70% of the global fleet) are small- to mid-sized ships (3,000 passengers or less), and this ratio is expected to remain the same well into the foreseeable future.

What is different about the cruise ships of today and tomorrow is the increasing number of ships being retrofitted and new ships being launched with cutting-edge technologies that are helping to make them the most energy-efficient and environmentally focused ships in the cruise fleet in history, regardless of size.

Cruise lines are investing billions in new ships and engine technologies that