True and true. And pretty much what I’ve always said. I will never make excuses for the cruise industry’s polluting, harmful to human and climate health, extractive, ecologically destructive, labor-abusing, tax avoiding, lawless, and exploitative business model. Nothing will ever make that right.

Hey Mike! It's the Container Ships, Too. shore power, cruise, Red Hook, cold ironing, bunker fuel, Brooklyn, pollution, ships, sulfur, cancer, asthma, terminal, NYCEDC, Port Authority,

This is what I’ve always advocated for, BTW. See my blog, 2009. I’ve advocated for universal adoption of shore power in ports. Eventually it seemed like cruise ships were the obvious, easy, low hanging fruit. Little did I understand the power of the industry. www.aviewfromthehook.com/2009/06/hey-...

I think communities adjacent to ports would disagree. The public health befits of shore power are undeniable. Especially when ports have shore power available to all types of ships - cargo, container, included. Ports are diesel death zones. Shore power helps *a lot* to reduce those terrible impacts.

I agree. The industry uses shore power as a greenwashing tactic. That doesn’t mean that the technology isn’t a good thing. When cruise companies are inevitably forced to use batteries or other clean technologies to propel their ships, shore power will still be useful at berth. For charging, and more

The main problem has been the cruise industry's reluctance to invest in this technology. All other arguments against, or downplaying of, the benefits of shore power are belied by the ever-increasing number of successful shore power berths around the world.

PPR 13: NGOs Criticise IMO’s Slow Progress on Cleaner Fuel Rules for Arctic Shipping As a meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Pollution Prevention and Response committee closes today (PPR 13, February 9-13), the Clean Arctic Alliance welcomed progress and suppor...

PPR 13: NGOs Criticise IMO’s Slow Progress on Cleaner Fuel Rules for Arctic Shipping
bit.ly/ppr13b

Cruise Ship Emissions Soar as Vessel Sizes Double Since 2000 The number and size of cruise ships have skyrocketed since the early 2000s, causing a dramatic rise in carbon emissions, according to a new study by the think tank Transport & Environment (T&E).The re...

www.sustainabletimes.co.uk/post/cruise-...

The Environmental Impact of Cruise Ships | Earth.Org The rise of cruise tourism is sparking concerns surrounding the environmental impact of cruise ships, including air and water pollution.

earth.org/the-environm...

Good news for #RedHook! The polluting behemoth is leaving. This MSC ship should’ve never been allowed to dock in Bklyn when it was incompatible with the shore power system & there was no plan for traffic control #cancer #asthma PM2.5 #climate #health #DirtyDiesel www.cruisecritic.com/news/msc-cru...

The shore power jib (crane) is no longer at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. What’s going on? Has the long promised “mobile” jib been put into service? Is every ship now idling 24/7, burning dirty diesel fuel, while docked at the terminal? NYCEDC?

Poison in the water: The call to ban scrubber discharge Pacific Environment's latest report lays out the case for why the IMO should immediately ban scrubber discharge into the marine environment.

Without a ban on the use of scrubbers and the discharge of scrubber wastewater, or a mandate to use cleaner distillate fuels, ecosystems, ocean resources and coastal communities will continue to be threatened and human health risks will increase. Via @pacenvironment.bsky.social

#banscrubbers

The MS Zuiderdam in Portland today dumping millions of gallons of toxic scrubber wash into Casco Bay.

We are asking the city to ban scrubber wash discharge when the cruise ships are in port. Join us!

portlandcruisecontrolmaine.org/scrubber-was...

#Banscrubbers #cruiseships
#Maine #CruiseMaine

Scrubber Wash Ban - Portland Cruise Control Support the ban on cruise ship scrubber discharge in Portland, Maine. Learn about the environmental impact and how you can help protect Casco Bay.

“Given the significant risks and harms from scrubber discharge, regulations like the proposed revision to Rule 8 of the Portland Terminal Tariff to prohibit scrubber wash discharge while ships are at dock, are appropriate and justified."
Kay Brown @pacenvironment.bsky.social

#banscrubbers #Maine

Coastal methane emissions triggered by ship passages - Communications Earth & Environment Shipping in estuaries causes pressure changes and water column mixing, which induces methane emissions to the atmosphere, according to field observations of methane from Neva Bay, Russia.

Cruise ship traffic in shallow areas, like ports, can trigger large methane emissions by just moving through the water, regardless of fuel. Methane is 27 times as powerful as carbon dioxide as a ghg, but these emissions are often overlooked

cc
@annabarford.bsky.social
@radreduction.bsky.social

Democrats must decry the Alaska-Ass Kiss!

Holiday cruise giant MSC using Cuban workers as 'slaves', says NGO The company allegedly works with Selecmark, the Cuban authority which "lends" Cuban workers all over the world. #EuropeNews

“We have work certificates from Selecmar that sells Cuban workers for luxury cruises and withholds 80% of the workers' wages … “
www.euronews.com/my-europe/20...

Been thinking a lot about big ships lately, over at @outsideinradio.bsky.social! This was a gnarly story to report: lots of fuzzy numbers, conflicting narratives and long-held truths.

As always, going directly to the people interacting with these ships reaped the most interesting answers.

I agree. Cruise companies should pay for their own infrastructure. Regardless, it was interesting to see that “capital partners” saw shore power and green port technologies in general as an investment opportunity. So worth posting, IMHO.
#Retweets ≠ #Endorsements 🙂

Seacap Becomes World’s First Capital Partner for Shore Power The company Seacap has launched as a new, specialized company designed to make it significantly easier for ports to carry out the…

Seacap Becomes World’s First Capital Partner for Shore Power "It is the first capital partner globally to focus specifically on sustainable ports – with an emphasis on shore power and zero-emission port development" www.maritimeprofessional.com/news/seacap-...

Here is Quantum of the Seas docked in Victoria tonight. We get toxic emissions from the cruise ships and all that comes with them. Buses sit and idle with no consequence to the bus company or cruise lines.

We’re the ones who pay with the effect on our health, city, environment and ecosystems.

How bout going back and kicking the tires of the morgue trucks that lined the Brooklyn waterfront?
Source: CNN share.google/nr7hmz78sUl0...

A long-term ‘disaster morgue’ has been set up at Brooklyn’s Pier 39 to help New York City’s overwhelmed funeral system | CNN New York City is now operating a long-term “disaster morgue” in Brooklyn where bodies will be stored frozen inside trucks – a move designed to help funeral directors overwhelmed during the coronavirus...

Why don’t you go back to the 2020 Brooklyn waterfront and kick the tires of the morgue trucks lined the piers??
Source: CNN share.google/nr7hmz78sUl0...

Cruise Ships Bombarding Cork Harbour Residents with Dangerous Levels of Air Pollution

Air quality measurements taken last week when cruise ships – such as NCL’s Norwegian Star – visited #Cobh, in #Ireland’s #Cork Harbour, show air pollution levels up to more than 250 times higher than safe levels recommended by @who.int

cleanarctic.org/2025/05/22/c... @sianprior.bsky.social #ireland

Portland residents force impaired cruise ship seeking shelter to burn cleaner fuel PORTLAND, May 17, 2025 - The cruise ship industry doesn’t even need passengers to cause a major row in a port city.

The protests in Portland forced the captain of the MSC Meraviglai to switch to cleaner fuel - a fuel that the ship should have been using in the first place! These lawless cruise companies will do whatever they want, until they're called out and shamed. theqsjournal.substack.com/p/portland-r...

Portland residents force impaired cruise ship seeking shelter to burn cleaner fuel PORTLAND, May 17, 2025 - The cruise ship industry doesn’t even need passengers to cause a major row in a port city.

“The cruise ship industry doesn’t even need passengers to cause a major row in a port city.”

The indefatigable Lincoln Millstein covers the MSC Meraviglia debacle in Portland
Maine

#cruiseMaine #Cruiseships #banscrubbers #portland #Maine
#publichealth

open.substack.com/pub/theqsjou...

Unfortunately, in NYC, CLIA has sycophants in NYC Economic Development Corporation. They do the cruise industry’s bidding. So even “negotiated agreements” are flawed, full of loopholes, & do nothing for our communities. We’ve set plenty of expectations, applied pressure, but CLIA owns NYC politics.

Exactly 💯%

No. Lots of issues with them and what they tell us. Also, why the heck do communities have to PROVE that emissions from ships are harmful when it’s proven science, established by countless studies in the U.S. and abroad? It’s just another onerous obstacle to actually getting stuff done!!

Sorry - I meant “home-porting”, of course. As far as I know, NO cruise ship has ever had an opacity test while at berth in Brooklyn. We’ve had to rely on visual reporting, scientific modeling, and some rudimentary (community based) air monitoring to ascertain emissions levels. Pretty sad.