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The Platform Against Mega Cruises also revealed that only one cruise company passed the test on sustainability measures this year.

The organization shared the results of the 2022 ranking of the environmental association and revealed that out of the 19 cruise companies surveyed, only Hurtigruten Norway obtained 50 percent of the score.

They explained: “Palma is the second European city with the second highest level of pollution from cruise ships and some of the shipping companies that operate in our city are those that have the worst score in the sustainable energy ranking.”

They said that the cruise industry is “incompatible” with climate and energy transition objectives which “should force the Spanish Government to take measures to prevent the costs from being much higher than the supposed benefits”.

The Platform Against Mega Cruises’ new data revealed that the port of Palma received 52 percent fewer cruise passengers than in 2019, but only 13 percent fewer ships.

They commented: “Therefore, far fewer cruise passengers but proportionally more pollution and impacts on public health.”

Earlier this year, Majorca became the first region in the country to limit the arrival of cruise ships by imposing strict rules.

The regional Government of the Balearic Islands, which includes Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza, limited the number of cruise ships allowed on the island during the summer months.

From 2022, only three cruise ships are allowed to arrive in Palma on the same day and only one of them may have a capacity of more than 5,000 passengers.

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This translates to only one mega cruise ship and two smaller ships allowed in Palma de Majorca on the same day, which means a huge reduction in the number of visitors.

A study by Transport & Environment revealed that the most polluted European city is Barcelona, in Spain, with an estimated 32.8 tonnes of SO2 from cruise ships.

The results of this year’s NABU cruise ranking showed that cruise companies are still doing far too little to protect the environment.

NABU evaluated the implemented measures and goals of cruise operators concluding that out of 19 companies surveyed only one achieved just half of the necessary points.

Although most cruise companies have a climate strategy by now and are committed to the Paris climate goals using modern technologies such as batteries and fuel cells, only TUI Cruises has a ship that is planned to use methanol.

Sönke Diesener, NABU cruise expert, explained: “In the 10th year of the cruise ranking, the results once again show that environmental and climate protection are still not at the forefront for the cruise companies.

“Heavy fuel oil continues to be the fuel of choice for the majority of existing fleet. Only a few truly future-proof projects are in the planning and implementation stages.

“The winner Hurtigruten shows that cruises on fixed routes in coastal waters make the necessary climate and environmental measures more predictable and thus easier to implement. But it also shows that strict regulation helps.

“Thus, we need strict regulation across the board to force analogous development throughout the industry.

“This includes a general ban on heavy fuel oil, mandatory use of shore-side electricity, an e-fuels quota as well as stricter efficiency requirements and the large-scale designation of zero- and low-emission areas at sea.”

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