CLIA European Summit 2023 - Reflections from our Cruise Division’s Executive Chairman

Yesterday, at the CLIA European Summit 2023 in Paris, in my role as Global Chairman of CLIA I joined a host of cruise industry stakeholders to discuss #TheFutureOfCruising and the innovations underway that are shaping transformative changes in the maritime sector as a whole.

There were many interesting takeaways, and I would like to share some of my thoughts here. 

European shipbuilding is truly at the heart of clean tech and industrial innovation.

93% of the world’s ocean-going cruise ships are built in Europe. As ship construction moved East in the past decades, European shipyards were able to retain this crucial segment of shipbuilding and economic impact that it generates.

Today, we are making significant investments to introduce innovations that will deliver a zero-carbon future. We are equipping our ships with the latest technologies including fuel cells, batteries, and new propulsion solutions, while also supporting the development of sustainable marine fuels.

By 2028, there will be 38 latest-generation cruise ships powered by LNG amongst the fleets belonging to CLIA members. Investments are also being made to reduce emissions while ships are in port to benefit local communities. 85% of cruise ships coming online between now and 2028 will be able to connect to shore power.

As countries across the world set out to build their cleantech capabilities, the EU must ensure that the right conditions are in place for these industries to flourish here. I am glad that CLIA and SEA Europe made their joint declaration yesterday, calling on EU Institutions to recognise the importance of maintaining this unique know how in the Continent.

We need to move now to secure a supply of renewable fuels at the scale required, not just for cruise, but for the entire maritime sector.

We want specific targets for production of renewable marine fuels to be adopted at EU and national level to accelerate investment and deployment. And national renewable energy plans to fully include the needs for infrastructure and deployment of renewable fuels at EU ports.

By doing this we will make sure that Europe remains at the centre of cleantech development for decades to come.

We – the cruise industry - came up with the protocol that unlocked travel during the pandemic and now we stand ready to help European institutions solve climate change.

Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of the Cruise Division of MSC Group and Global Chairman of CLIA