Cruise ships on the Mersey are a fantastic sight but vessels consume huge amounts of energy and pollute the air – but one simple change at Liverpool Cruise Terminal could make a big difference. Tony McDonough reports

Cunard’s Queen Victoria at Liverpool Cruise Terminal

There is little doubt the return of the big cruise liners to the River Mersey in 2007 has been hugely beneficial to Liverpool city centre.

But they are also huge users of energy. Their dirty ‘bunker fuel’ emits large volumes of CO2, contributing to climate change. They also pollute the air, a particular issue when they are in port. But there is one very simple solution ports can offer to mitigate this.

Every year Liverpool Cruise Terminal regularly welcomes more than 100 vessels of varying sizes. And they are well loved. Cruise ships attract crowds of people to the waterfront and often they set sail to music and spectacular firework displays.

When Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth ships sailed into the Mersey in 2015 for the company’s 175th birthday celebrations 1.2m people gathered on both sides of the river, generating almost £33m for the local economy.

However, with the world now focused on climate change and the race to net zero carbon emissions, there is a growing unease about the cruise industry which has bounced back strongly from the COVID pandemic.

While cruise ships may be good for the economy – generating £114bn across the world each year – it would be silly to argue they are good for the environment.

According to a study in the Marine Pollution Bulletin in 2021, a large cruise ship can emit as much CO2 as 12,000 cars. Passengers on an Antarctic cruise can produce as much CO2 emissions on a seven-day voyage as the average European in a whole year.

Pollution is also a big issue. Many cruise vessels still run on so-called ‘bunker fuel’, a heavy fuel oil that produces high volumes of nitric and nitrogen oxides, known to contribute to respiratory diseases.

Will Liverpool offer shore power?

Liverpool Cruise Terminal is close to Liverpool city centre and the tens of thousands of people that live and work there and who are already exposed to large volumes of pollutionfrom road traffic.

A significant volume of the fuel burned by a cruise ship is used to propel the vessel. When it is in port it is of course stationary. But all the power, lighting, air conditioning etc needed by passengers and crew can account for as much as 50% of that energy use.

And this is where ship-to-shore power, or ‘cold ironing’, can mitigate both CO2 emissions and pollution while a vessel is in port. The idea is simple – while the ship is moored at the terminal it ‘plugs in’ to a shoreside power source and can switch off its engines.

If the power source is renewable, eg wind or solar, then the cuts to CO2 emissions can be significant. And it eliminates localised pollution.

Currently only 3% of cruise terminals around the world offer ship-to-shore power, just 15 in Europe. In the UK Southampton offers this facility at its £50m Horizon terminal. But there are signs this number is set to increase significantly.

According to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), one of the industry’s largest trade bodies, 70% of the vessels it covers will be equipped to receive shore power by 2028.

It says: “We are calling on ports and authorities to prioritise the deployment of shoreside electricity at cruise berths to allow for the immediate reduction of emissions at berth.”

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 at Liverpool Cruise Terminal. Picture by HowardLiverpool
Ambition at Liverpool Cruise Terminal. Picture by HowardLiverpool

In April 2024 it was confirmed Global Ports Holding (GPH), the world’s largest independent cruise terminal operator, would take over the running of the Liverpool terminal from Liverpool City Council, a deal first revealed by LBN in December 2023.

GPH has said it will spend £25m on a new floating pontoon that will increase capacity and allow for the simultaneous berthing of two 300-metre ships and up to 7,000 passengers a day.

It will also oversee the construction of a new terminal building that will provide waterfront retail and hospitality offerings for both cruise passengers and local visitors. But what about ship-to-shore power?

When Liverpool City Council proposed a completely new cruise terminal prior to the pandemic, ship-to-shore power was seen as integral to the project.

However, that project had to be shelved due the huge cost and GPH says its current plans do not include the installation of ship-to-shore capability. However, company told LBN: “The development has been designed and planned to ensure the terminal can support ship-to-shore power in the future.

“Providing ship-to-shore power is more complex than a port operator just building the required infrastructure. For example, Liverpool Cruise Terminals’ city centre location means that additional substation capacity would be necessary to ensure no negative impact on the city’s electricity supply.

“It is widely accepted by all stakeholders that ship-to-shore power is only viable through appropriate central government subsidies or incentives.

“We are keeping a close eye on industry developments, and are actively engaged with all relevant stakeholders to progress the provision of ship-to-shore power across our port network.

“In the meantime, it is worth noting that the cruise industry is leading the way across the global maritime industry in terms of its investment in new fuel technology, which will significantly reduce emissions while at port and sea.

There is certainly the potential for the supply of renewable energy at the Mersey location. In March Port of Liverpool owner Peel Ports unveiled what it claimed will be the UK’s largest solar power project.

In a joint venture with E.ON 63,000 solar panels will be installed generating up to 31MW of electricity. That news came just weeks after Peel announced it would also install new turbines at the port with a generating capacity of 20MW.

Vessels are getting cleaner

Against the backdrop of fleet expansion, average cruise ship CO2 emissions have declined by 16% over five years.

The sector’s advance in energy efficiency performance is indicated by data gathered under the EU’s Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) regulation.

READ MORE: Will Cunard cruises ever return to Liverpool?

Information on 206 vessels belonging to members of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which represents some 95% of global cruise ship passenger capacity, was submitted in 2023, up from reports for 179 ships in 2019.

Overall CO2 emissions amounted to just in excess of 7m tons, 2% more than the figure for 2019, for a 15% increase in vessels involved.

“This shows the improvement with regards to energy efficiency of the sector and the decorrelation of the growth in the number of ships and their emissions,” stated the CLIA. “This is confirmed by the average CO2 emissions per ship reporting into MRV—which shows a reduction of 16% between 2019 and 2023.”