Greenpeace calls on Antwerp to ban cruise ships from city centre

Greenpeace volunteers staged a protest on Sunday in front of the new cruise terminal at the Steenplein in Antwerp. They believe ocean cruise ships should be banned from the city centre, because of their substantial CO2 and particulate emissions. In addition, Greenpeace is calling for the further development of shore-based power installations, the organisation sated in a letter addressed to the city council.

To this day, ocean cruise liners mooring in Antwerp's city centre - a low-emission zone - are not obliged to use shore-based power and consequently leave their generators running idle, which results in emissions. "The smaller river cruise ships have to switch to shore power when they moor and we think that sea cruise ships should also be obliged to do so", says volunteer Patricia Schellekens.

"There should be a possibility to moor in the port, away from the city centre, where large cruise ships can use renewable shore power."

The current shore power infrastructure is inadequate for this obligation to be viable, which is why Greenpeace has asked city and port authorities in an open letter to invest more in the further development of shore-based power installations.

However, the environmental organisation believes ocean cruises should be banned altogether from the inner city, because in addition to air pollution they also cause noise and light pollution. "There should be a possibility to moor in the port, away from the city centre, where large cruise ships can use renewable shore power. In addition, there should be an easy connection between this mooring location and the inner city," Schellekens added.

(BRV)

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© BELGA PHOTO PATRICK DE ROO