The long way to a climate-neutral ship

 

“The Naturschutzbund Deutschland (Nabu) normally publishes its cruise ranking every September. A media effective means of issuing certificates to the cruise lines. With a few exceptions, the grades for sustainability and climate protection were mostly unsatisfactory. This year, Nabu is not ranking and has instead invited the most important participants on the German market - Aida, MSC, Tui Cruises - to a panel discussion. Topic: "The future of cruise lines in times of pandemic and climate crisis." Is there suddenly harmony between former opponents?

"No, we are and will remain critical companions, but the industry has been shaken to the max by the pandemic and that is why hardly any new ships have come onto the market," says Malte Siegert from Nabu Hamburg. Instead of the ranking, Nabu presents an ambitious timetable on the way to climate neutrality in 2050. Among other things, it calls for the immediate stop of the use of heavy fuel oil, the unrestricted installation of nitrogen oxide catalysts and soot particle filters - by 2023.

The shipping companies' promises were not kept when they renounced heavy fuel oil

As far as the goal is concerned, the shipping companies are demonstrating unity. The schedule, on the other hand, is disputed. And the how, says Christian Hein, Germany managing director of the MSC shipping company. "In 2050 we will be climate neutral. That much is certain. We just don't know how to do it today." In any case, participate in the current developments. The industry has recognized the signs of the times, the European suppliers are committed to the Paris climate protection agreement, to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and to the EU's goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050.

Time will show how seriously this is meant, says Malte Siegert, but he recognizes that providers on the European market are sensitized to the topic. Siegert's Nabu colleague Sönke Diesener is cautiously optimistic; the tone has become more constructive between the parties, but he also says that the cruise industry has already made many promises about the use of heavy fuel oil, which in retrospect would have turned out to be lip service.

In Germany, the market leader Aida, part of the world's largest cruise company Carnival, shows what the path to climate neutrality could look like. This is how things have been done with the LNG ships that are powered by liquefied gas, says Hansjörg Kunze, Head of Communications at Aida - with a signal effect for the industry: since the first LNG ship Aida Nova went into operation in December 2018, more and more LNG ships have come on the market. In the Aida fleet, however, only one of the 13 ships runs on LNG. Another LNG ship, the Aida Cosma, is scheduled to go into service in December.

In 2030 there should be zero-emission ships. But is the date realistic?

Nabu man Siegert sees the LNG ships only as a bridge technology anyway. The gas burns with almost no pollutants, but the fact remains that it is a fossil fuel and emits CO2. In the future, these ships could also be refueled with synthetic liquefied petroleum gas, if this can be produced in such large quantities with renewable energies.

Aida wants to put the first zero-emission ship into operation in 2030, Kunze announced. The race has started, everyone wants to be first. "Race to the top" is what Lucienne Damm calls it. She is environmental manager at Tui Cruises, previously worked for Nabu and is now working on preparing Tui Cruises for the post-carbon era. Tui Cruises wants to offer climate-neutral travel in 2030, announces Damm.

First of all, however, it is important to do what is feasible, namely to convert the existing fleet. The engines have to be made fit for new fuels, this requires the consent of the engine manufacturer. In addition, the energy efficiency of the existing ships would have to be increased, and potential savings in fuel consumption would have to be used. "That might not sound so sexy," says Lucienne Damm, but this already saves more than 20 percent energy - a considerable contribution to climate protection. 

 

Generally slower driving and smart routing - route optimization and avoiding storms, significantly reduced fuel consumption.

 

MSC is developing a hydrogen-powered ocean-going ship with the Italian shipyard Fincantieri. But is this ready to go by 2030? There are simply too many unknowns, explains MSC man Hein: The availability of alternative fuels, feasibility, infrastructure and the future technical standard are still completely unclear.

Synthetic fuels are a noble goal. Shore power systems in the ports can be reached more quickly

At Aida, they work on huge batteries on board that can emit and store energy depending on the driving situation. Aida Nova will have the largest fuel cell ever on board a passenger ship this year with an output of 200 kilowatts. It is not known where all the electricity will come from to achieve decarbonization. What is clear, however, is that Germany will not be able to produce this in sufficient quantities. For alternative, green fuels such as hydrogen or synthetic products such as methanol or ammonia, a distribution battle is already emerging between industry, aviation and the comparatively small cruise industry. Malte Siegert considers this to be the crux of the energy transition in the cruise industry. 

 

"The electricity for the production of synthetic fuels has to come from countries that have a lot of potential for wind and solar power," explains Siegert. Capacities that have yet to be built up, power lines that have to be laid first.

 

So there is still a long way to go towards climate neutrality. In German ports, however, there should soon be improvements: Rostock-Warnemünde has recently had shore power, and a system was inaugurated in Kiel. The facility has been decided in Bremerhaven. And in Hamburg, which so far only has a rarely used shore power system in Altona, there will be shore power at all cruise terminals from 2023. Even if this is only a tiny contribution to global climate protection: The inhabitants of the German port cities should soon breathe much better air. "All ships built from 2007 onwards are capable of shore power, many are already equipped," says Sönke Diesener. "Now the ships also have to be connected to the cable." ”