According to the findings of a study by the UK’s Transport & Environment department, Palma is the fourth most polluted cruise port in Europe.
Toxic air pollutants from cruise ships are back to pre-pandemic levels, leaving Europe’s port cities choking in air pollution, a new Transport & Environment study shows. Despite the introduction of the UN shipping body’s sulphur cap in 2020, last year Europe’s 218 cruise ships emitted as much sulphur oxides (SOx) as 1 billion cars.
The analysis also shines a light on the benefits of cities taking action to address cruise ship pollution.
The port of Venice saw air pollutants from cruise ships fall 80% following the city’s ban on large cruise ships.
In 2019, the city ranked as the most-polluted port city in Europe but fell to 41st place after implementing a ban on cruise ships in 2021. It shows that it is possible to tackle air pollution, says T&E, which calls for greater electrification at ports in order to save lives.
Barcelona was Europe’s most polluted port last year followed by Civitavecchia, a coastal port northwest of Rome, the Athenian port of Piraeus and then Palma.
Analysis from T&E UK earlier this year showed that in 2021, UK shipping produced 22 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from burning 7 million tonnes of dirty fossil fuels. 2 million tonnes of that pollution – around 10% – occurred in UK ports. Alongside greenhouse gases, burning marine fuels produces an array of harmful air pollutants including oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, which can cause or exacerbate asthma and other respiratory health problems.
Most polluted cruise ports in Europe
Barcelona, Spain
Civitavecchia, Italy
Piraeus, Greece
Palma Mallorca, Spain
Lisbon, Portugal
Hamburg, Germany
Southampton, UK
Mykonos, Greece
Thira, Greece
Funchal, Portugal
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Marvin Le MartianSpot on Marvin!!
Seriously, what happened to all the promises of protecting Palma (and the island) from these horrific mega polluting plague ships? They sit in the port, their engines ticking over, belching pollutants into the air, whilst their ‘all you can eat’ cheap as chips passengers are disgorged onto Palma’s streets, clogging the walkways and discouraging valuable tourists, who might actually open their wallets. Tourism plan? What plan? Eco-friendly Mallorca? Laughable! Port controls - dream on!!!
Nigel MaudeYou could do with some education yourself. The last ice age ended 25,000 years ago. The planet wasn’t ice bound. the northern part of the Eurasian continent and northern half of North America were glacial. These changes happened slowly over hundreds, if not thousands of years. The climate change we are experiencing now is happening like a flick of a switch in comparison, and we are warming up incredibly fast not cooling down. Denying that this is due to mankind’s influence is sheer, bloody-minded ignorance.
If all cars were diesel the chart might be different. There are no petrol driven cruise ships. More rubbish to brain wash the "people" to believe it is them that are causing climate change. History is no longer taught in schools so kids and the younger generation probably have not heard the planet was ice bound millions of years ago, and climate has been changing ever since. Not too difficult to understand if you had a balanced education which is not being given today.
What restrictions? My air pollution hayfever is off the scale. Bloody filthy