‘There are no easy solutions and in many cases there are no workarounds, there are no shortcuts to this,’ said the senior director, deployment & itinerary planning, after voicing concerns that ships may outpace ports in being more sustainable.
He spoke during Seatrade Cruise Med's ‘The Intricacies of Sustainable Itinerary Planning' session in Málaga.
'The right thing to do'
‘Some of these investments on paper will not look like they will have a return, but we do it because it is the right thing to do, and I think destinations need to adopt that mindset,’ Littley added.
Conceding the move to becoming more sustainable ‘will be hard work,’ he noted, ‘If destinations haven’t considered sustainability options, shore power, energy or otherwise, now is the time to make that a key part of their internal discussions.
‘From a personal perspective, when I do itinerary planning, I look at shore power capability … Ports that offer me the opportunity to plug in … look a little brighter in my eyes.’
Imbalance between ships ready to plug in and ports with shore power
Littley stated cruise lines are 'rapidly retrofitting and outfitting ships with shore power capability' and likely this will outpace the capability of ports and destinations to supply the electricity. This could result in a situation where, in the next five years, ‘the entire world fleet will have shore plug-in capability, but only a fraction of berths at cruise destinations will have the counter capability. And that is concerning.’
TUI committed to shore power use wherever available
Littley's comments came shortly after Marcus Puttich, senior head of port management & operations, said TUI Cruises' internal policy is that 'whenever there is a port with shoreside electricity, we will connect. It cannot all be about cost, we have to think further ahead.’ Fincantieri cut steel for the first of two new-concept, LNG-powered ships for TUI Cruises in June.
The 160,000gt vessels, scheduled for delivery in 2024 and in 2026, are intended to become the backbone of the future TUI Cruises fleet. The shipyard is also studying the possibility of enabling future operation with low-emission biofuels. TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 7 will run on low-sulphur fuel with the capability of using green methanol in future.
Davide Truscello, pricing, itinerary & revenue planning director, Costa Cruises, described itinerary planning as a complex process, adding LNG is 'not the only answer.’ He also pointed to the puzzling contrast of maximising shore power without offering sustainable shore excursions.
Looking to Europe
‘Where we stand right now, specifically in Europe, is that we do have ports that are able to deliver shoreside electricity to us, but we are at the early stages,’ noted Puttich, ‘which might be a good thing for many other ports because you have the chance to learn. You can look at the best practice.’
The discussion concluded with Roger Blum, principal, Cruise & Port Advisors, saying, ‘One of the takeaways is that communication and collaboration is going to be central to this … to make sure money is well spent and what [destinations and ports] are doing makes sense,’ making sure the ‘pieces of the itinerary puzzle' have ‘everyone on the same track.’
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