Costa Cruises is working with the Italian energy company Enel for the electrification of its cruise ships. The project will focus on reducing emissions when the cruise ship is near ports.
Working with Enel, Costa plans to retrofit a vessel with a battery power supply system as a pilot for eliminating emissions on cruise ships. The system would likely be combined with a shore power recharging system for the batteries.
In essence, the vessel will have no emissions from the time it enters the port to the time it exits, which would also cover the time spent on docking and maneuvering. There has been no indication so far as to which ship is to be used for this pilot.
This project would be the first of its kind to try to meet the extensive power requirements of a cruise ship with battery power.
Costa Cruises has stated that while a third of its ships can operate on shore power, many of the important Italian and Mediterranean ports have not yet implemented shore power despite the 2025 mandate by the European Union. Costa Cruises and Enel plan to advocate for simplifying and incentivizing energy efficiency at Italian ports. This would include electrification and shore power for the ports.
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of News2Sea.
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