China’s first domestically built large cruise ship, the Adora Magic City, sits in port in Shanghai on June 6. The return of massive cruise ships to the world’s seas has renewed concerns about the amount of pollution they generate. Photo: Xinhua
Opinion
Outside In
by David Dodwell
Outside In
by David Dodwell
Can Asia lead a green revolution in the world’s cruise industry?
As ocean-plying container vessels and colossal cruise ships appear in larger numbers, concerns about the pollution they create have resurfaced
With China emerging as a builder of mega cruise ships, now is the time for Asia to lead a return to environmental care in the industry
There is something about boats, deep in the subconscious, that seems to stretch back to my landlocked childhood. You see it in the obsession with the Titanic that has played out this week in the frantic hunt for the Titan submersible. You see it in the kayakers who traverse the Sai Kung coastline every weekend. You see it in China’s pride in the recent launch of its first super-luxury cruise ship, the 5,246-passenger Adora Magic City.
Boats have a particularly special place here in Hong Kong. There was something uniquely exotic about commuting on the Star Ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to my office in Central daily. Even more so was finishing a day of meetings in Guangzhou by clambering onto the Pearl River overnight ferry down to Hong Kong. Sitting on its top deck under fairy lights, with a Tsingtao beer in hand and the banks of the river sweeping by in silent darkness, remains among my warmest memories.
So, too, in China, where my meetings from city to city down the Yangtze were linked by overnight journeys on huge, bedraggled but still majestic ferries that have probably plied the river for centuries.
But as ocean-plying container ships and increasingly colossal cruise ships appear in larger numbers, my fondness for boats has become an increasingly guilty pleasure. There was something surreal about watching the 400-metre-long Ever Given container ship blocking the Suez Canal for a week in March 2021, almost identical in size to the International Finance Centre in Central lying on its side.
Further back, the massive 13-deck MSC Opera ploughed into the Venice dockside in 2019. Whether it is Venice, Barcelona, Miami, Sydney or Skagway in Alaska, these ships are bloating out of all proportion to the docksides they dominate, looming over the port cities they visit. Once called floating hotels, they are now more like floating cities. The newest ships – Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas, at 362 metres long and able to carry about 7,000 guests and more than 2,000 crew – have created ecosystems that threaten everything they touch.
02:19
China’s first home-grown large cruise ship set to begin sea trials
China’s first home-grown large cruise ship set to begin sea trials
Most are fuelled by sulphur-heavy oil, leaving port cities heavily polluted. The European lobby group Transport & Environment recently reported that the 218 cruise ships active in Europe in 2022 pumped into the air more than four times the sulphuric oxide emitted by all of Europe’s cars.
While the ships that use scrubbers to strip pollutants from their smoke make the air safer to breathe, most simply transfer all of that toxic material into bilge water that ends up acidifying the seas. These newest ships are also able to plug into shoreside electricity supplies, enabling them to switch off their engines while in port. The problem is that only 2 per cent of the world’s ports can provide shoreside power, and this will rise to just 3 per cent by 2025.
The Covid-19 pandemic brought the global cruise industry to a sudden halt, providing respite to communities living around the world’s cruise ports. But as the industry has recovered, pollution has soared afresh, reviving acrimonious political debates about whether cities should allow these floating behemoths to return. It is noteworthy that Venice has seen a fall in sulphur oxide pollution, after banishing in 2021 cruise ships of more than 25,000 tonnes.
As Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding launches China’s first home-built mega cruise ship – boasting 5G internet and what it calls the world’s largest duty-free shop – it is putting down a marker that China plans to join the ranks of the cruise industry leaders. So it is now, before serious environmental harm is done, that China and its cruise-ready tourists should take a cold, hard look at the damage the industry can inflict and perhaps how to prevent it.
Currently, Asia hardly has much of a presence in the global cruise industry. According to the Cruise Lines International Association, there were 79 cruise ships active across Asia in 2019, carrying more than 4 million passengers. In 2022, as cruise activity in Europe and the United States rallied back towards 2019 levels, cruise activity in Asia remained depressed at around 800,000 passengers as China’s tourists largely stayed at home.
With the end of the country’s zero-Covid policy, though, Chinese tourists have started travelling abroad again. The market for cruises is expected to grow rapidly as Chinese travellers become steadily richer, though it is still likely to be the preserve of the wealthiest travellers as the average seven-day cruise costs at least US$2,000. A recent Global Times report said the government foresaw 14 million passenger trips by 2035.
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Made in China: construction begins on country’s second home-grown cruise ship
Made in China: construction begins on country’s second home-grown cruise ship
There are those who believe the sheer scale of the new cruise ships will make environmental harm unavoidable. However, there are ways to mitigate damage that should be given priority. Sulphur-heavy fuel must be banned, even when ships have scrubbers, and natural gas-fuelled ships are also problematic since they leak methane.
That means an urgent focus on green hydrogen and electric power. Dock-side electrical power is an imperative, and not just for cruise ships.
For boats to retain a special place in our lives, it is imperative for cruise ships to revert to environmental equilibrium. What are the chances that the emerging industry in Asia can take the lead?
David Dodwell is CEO of the trade policy and international relations consultancy Strategic Access, focused on developments and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific over the past four decades.
