Transport & Environment (T&E), the European organisation which aims to promote the reduction of the impact transport sector, again called for the cruise industry to move towards the use of synthetic fuels to reduce pollutant emissions from cruise ships and not to liquefied natural gas, which currently it is the fuel used mainly for power the most recent and newly built ships. The call follows the publication by T&E of the new own report "'Cruisezillas': How much bigger can cruise ships get?" which highlights the relevant increase in the size of today's most large, which turn out to be twice as large as those of 2000. The The report points out that if they continue to grow at this rate, In 2050, the largest cruise ships could reach a gross tonnage of 345,000 tons. The document recalls that, in addition to size, ships have grown exceptionally also in number, having increased twenty-fold going from only 21 ships in 1970 to 515 today and notes that the increase in the size and number of units of the global cruise fleet in 2022 increased by almost 20% of CO2 emissions produced by these ships in Europe compared to to 2019.

The report notes that to contain the increase in emissions in the atmosphere determined by the increase in the fleet many companies cruise companies are switching to liquefied natural gas as a alternative to traditional fuels, and today LNG-powered ships account for 38% of global cruise ship orders. The The report points out that, if LNG emits fewer pollutants and carbon dioxide When it burns, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas more than 80 times more powerful than CO2.

"The only green and scalable solution to decarbonise maritime activities - highlighted Inesa Ulichina, T&E responsible for shipping sustainability - They are e-fuels." Specifying that, as reported in a recent T&E study, in 2030 green e-fuels could almost 4% of European maritime transport, according to Transport & Environment the limited availability of e-fuels and the infrastructure for refuelling them fuels should be less of a problem for ships since they sail several times on the same routes with a precise planning of arrivals and departures in ports, making their needs and timing of replenishment of predictable fuel and relatively easy to plan.

According to the latest T&E study, moreover, moving to green fuels could also be financially advantageous for cruise operators since, due to the price of the carbon charged to ships that has been in force since the beginning of this year under EU rules and sanctions progressively increasing from 2025 onwards due to the use of More polluting fuels under the European regulation FuelEU Maritime, in 2030 sailing only on fossil fuel will become 13% more expensive than the blending 4% of e-methanol into the fuel mix. The report highlights that the increase in navigation costs with the use of fossil fuel compared to the e-fuel mix could reach over 30% in 2040 and over 80% in 2050.