If barred from Hamburg, Queen Mary 2 is still welcome in Rotterdam
At the Port of Rotterdam Authority and Cruise Port Rotterdam they aren’t even thinking of denying dirty, soot-spewing cruise ships access to the port. And should Hamburg do so “then Rotterdam will welcome the Queen Mary 2 (QM2) with open arms', says Cruise Port Rotterdam director Mai Elmar. Last week, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported that Hamburg would perhaps be forced to refuse the QM2 access to the city on the Elbe due to the high emissions of foul fumes such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and soot particles. The cruise ships dock there on the quayside of HafenCity, the Hamburg equivalent of Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid. No more homes may be built in the vicinity of the cruise terminal in Hamburg. Offices must have closed external walls on the cruise terminal side.
The QM2 in particular is under fire because this ship has an exceptionally high engine power of 117 megawatts. By way of comparison: the largest class of container ships (Emma Maersk) currently docking on the Maasvlakte can generate 80 megawatts and the world’s biggest tanker, the Knock Knevis, has a 37-megawatt engine.
The QM2 consumes as much fuel as a town with a population of 200,000. You can’t simply plug such a ship into shore-based power with a couple of sockets. It almost requires an extra power station of its own.
According to experts from the ship classification company Germanischer Lloyd, the QM2 is no dirtier than other ships. The only problem in Hamburg is that there are buildings so close to the terminal. But on the Wilhelminapier in Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid, there is also residential development close to the cruise terminal.
Last month, an environmental effect report was drawn up for the Rotterdam cruise terminal. It reached the conclusion that everything was still within the environmental norms, even when visits from the big cruise ships were taken into account.
According to Mai Elmar, the cruise industry is showing great concern for the environment, by purifying waste water and reducing emissions of flue gases. Passengers want to sail in an environmentally-friendly way. In her opinion, the housing on the Wilhelminapier does not pose a problem either: “After a well-known ship has paid a visit, we always get lots of positive responses from people saying how much they’d enjoyed it.''
Port of Rotterdam Authority spokesperson Minco van Heezen is not convinced that the Germans will actually bar cruise ships.
”I’ve more chance of becoming Mayor of Hamburg than of them turning away the QM 2. It’s such an emotional issue there,'' he says.
The QM2 in particular is under fire because this ship has an exceptionally high engine power of 117 megawatts. By way of comparison: the largest class of container ships (Emma Maersk) currently docking on the Maasvlakte can generate 80 megawatts and the world’s biggest tanker, the Knock Knevis, has a 37-megawatt engine.
The QM2 consumes as much fuel as a town with a population of 200,000. You can’t simply plug such a ship into shore-based power with a couple of sockets. It almost requires an extra power station of its own.
According to experts from the ship classification company Germanischer Lloyd, the QM2 is no dirtier than other ships. The only problem in Hamburg is that there are buildings so close to the terminal. But on the Wilhelminapier in Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid, there is also residential development close to the cruise terminal.
Last month, an environmental effect report was drawn up for the Rotterdam cruise terminal. It reached the conclusion that everything was still within the environmental norms, even when visits from the big cruise ships were taken into account.
According to Mai Elmar, the cruise industry is showing great concern for the environment, by purifying waste water and reducing emissions of flue gases. Passengers want to sail in an environmentally-friendly way. In her opinion, the housing on the Wilhelminapier does not pose a problem either: “After a well-known ship has paid a visit, we always get lots of positive responses from people saying how much they’d enjoyed it.''
Port of Rotterdam Authority spokesperson Minco van Heezen is not convinced that the Germans will actually bar cruise ships.
”I’ve more chance of becoming Mayor of Hamburg than of them turning away the QM 2. It’s such an emotional issue there,'' he says.