North Sea sustainability: New area, new responsibility

The recently launched three-year €1.9 million Cruise Gateway project is aware that with its aspirations comes responsibility: so along with marketing and the building up of a regional maritime identity, the body is considering issues such as environmental awareness, eco-friendly transport structures and avoiding congestion – in short, issues of sustainability.

“We want to work on ways of promoting the North Sea Region while ensuring it will represent a beacon for sustainable cruise,” says Sebastian Doderer, of the Port of Hamburg (which is leading the project with the Hamburg Cruise Centre).

Outlining its work schedules and targets, the Gateway partnership says of the region: “Homeports are rare, multimodal links lacking, regional economic effects underdeveloped and cruise circles – brands – are missing. However, at the same time, climate change contributes to an increased attractiveness of the area as a holiday destination.”

So, the project will focus on how growth can be managed with attention being paid to eco-friendly transport structures and potential bottlenecks, taking into account both safety and security points of view.

“The aim is to contribute to improved cruise accessibility in the NSR on a sustainable basis, enabling comprehensive economic and social benefits,” says Mr Doderer. “We are looking to create a framework that enables and promotes sustainable, economic growth of cruise tourism while simultaneously increasing environmental awareness among stakeholders.”

One very specific topic up for discussion is the creation of environmental certification for cruise ports. The Port of Gothenburg, one of the partners, will be leading this discussion and arranging a conference to consider the possibilities.

“We will be looking at ways to create a blueprint or manual for environmental certification,” says Mr Doderer. “Not only is this important in terms of looking after the environment, but certification could certainly make ports more attractive to their increasingly environmentally conscious cruise passengers. To attract both passengers and cruise liners you have to provide a certain ‘green’ image today, and that is an overall focus for our project; how can we be green in a way that provides more ships and more passengers?”

He lists a series of environmental issues related to cruise, not least the impact of thousands of passengers all in one place at one time.

To this end, a study is being planned into the socio-economic impact of cruise. It will address questions such as, are the cruise industry’s target groups changing – and what does that mean for cruise destinations? How does a port or destination cope when thousands of passengers all arrive in just two hours, and how do you provide environmentally friendly accessibility on the landside, particularly for disabled and elderly people? And, are there adequate multimodal transport links, for example between terminals and airports?

Some ports have to be ready to handle perhaps five cruise turn-rounds in one day: that could mean five ships each with 2,000 passengers coming on and another 2,000 leaving, plus of course all of the associated luggage and ship’s supplies.

“We need to look at issues such as the impact on traffic around the port,” says Mr Doderer. “Then there is what we called ‘hinterland soft tourism’. Cruise ships arrive in port with a really large number of passengers, and you want to show them the local attractions. But how do you arrange this in a way so that not all of them are driving around by taxi, or to ensure that your most beautiful park or nature area isn’t ruined by too many visitors?”

By way of example, he suggests a cruise ship arriving in a Scottish port; all the passengers want to visit the local whisky distillery but the road from port to distillery may be unsuitable for the level of traffic, or for large coaches, for example. “That’s an issue that needs discussing: how do you arrange these shore excursions with so many people?”

Further, plans have to take into consideration a changing scenario. Here, the project is looking well ahead, and it’s a shame there’s no crystal ball to help predict the scale of the needed effort.

“The cruise sector is growing year by year; more and more cruise ships are being built,” says Mr Doderer. “We have to develop solutions with certain horizons that will also be applicable in ten years’ time.”

Those horizons need to include how an area plans to get information all the way down the line to passengers, and not least is the question of how you market a whole, diverse area – and what’s more, getting sustainability issues established in the very heart of what is, in essence, a new brand.

“Added to this, ten years down the line there will also probably be further environmental regulations – and although you don’t know what these will be, you still have to plan for them. It’s a question of staying one hop ahead of the game when you don’t really know what the game is going to be,” says Mr Doderer.

However, he concludes, although no-one really knows what the future is going to bring, it’s a good guess there are going to be further carbon taxes, emissions and waste regulations in place. So any plans have got to be robust enough to stand up to a new environment – regulatory as much as ecological.