Europa 2, a cruise ship operated by Germany-based cruise line Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, has had its cold ironing connection certified by the classification society DNV GL.
This is the first time a cruise ship has been using cold ironing for a long period of time, according to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.
The cruise vessel has been successfully using cold ironing at the Cruise Center Altona in Hamburg for the past 30 days and was able to save a total of 600 tons of carbon dioxide. All new ships in the company’s fleet are equipped for cold ironing.
The luxury ship Europa 2, with a maximum of 500 passengers requires 2.2 megawatts of power per hour during its laytime. This reduces the ship’s emissions to practically zero. The electricity used is being supplied by Hamburg Energie and comes from 100% renewable resources, which means that the operation of the Europa 2 in the port is practically climate-neutral, the company said.
As explained, the certification is a result of testing its undisrupted use and compatibility of cold ironing.
The compatibility of the cold ironing connection at the Cruise Center in Altona was adjusted by the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), as the small Europa 2 requires a lower voltage than the other cruise ships that are using cold ironing there. The settings can be easily duplicated any time the luxury ship makes a stop at the port in the future.
“We are glad that we have been able to make such valuable use of this forced break by driving forward cold ironing and the certification of the Europa 2. The fact that a cruise ship has used cold ironing over a long period of time in Hamburg is an important and unprecedented experience,” Karl J. Pojer, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.
“Successful use of cold ironing is another important part of our environmental strategy. We use marine gas oil with a low 0.1% sulphur content in the whole fleet, all over the world, thereby going beyond the legal requirements.”
By using the low-pollutant fuel marine gas oil with a sulphur content of 0.1%, the sulphur emissions of the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises fleet will be cut by 80%. The switch to marine gas oil also means a reduction in soot and particulates of up to 30%.
Furthermore, all routes are carefully planned with an environmentally efficient average speed not pushing the vessels to go as fast as possible, reduces consumption by 30% and also lowers the emissions, the cruise line added.
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