Favor the sustainable maritime mobility through electrification solutions. This is the objective of the memorandum of understanding signed by the Italy director of Enel, Nicola Lanzetta, and the general manager of Costa cruisesMario Zanetti. The agreement will focus on the possibility of promoting emission reduction projects in the entry and exit phases of cruise ships from ports and during stops on the quay, through the installation on the ship of a battery powered, combined with a shore power and electric recharging system.
The collaboration may also be extended abroad in the countries where the two Groups are present, in particular the Spain.
"By combining their respective skills, we intend to propose a virtuous model for maritime transport, with benefits not only for cruise passengers but for the entire port system, which would thus see emissions from ships and noise pollution reduced or eliminated", said Lanzetta .
“Our ambition is to introduce a new generation of vessels that operate at zero emissions net by 2050. But that's not all. Since we consider the ship as an integral part of the territory, even the transport activities ancillary to cruises, which take place in the port and in the city, will have to be increasingly sustainable", added Zanetti.
Enel and Costa Cruises: the new agreement
In particular, explains a note, the protocol aims to create a "pilot case" of naval refitting, the objective of which will be to transform a Costa cruise ship into a zero-emission ship from entry into the port to its exit, including hours in which it remains stationary on the quay, a total of about half of its operating day.
The agreement also provides for the promotion of advocacy activities aimed at simplifying and encouraging energy efficiency, electrification and the production of renewable energy in the port area, in particular in port areas inserted in city contexts, in line with the provisions of the European New Green Deal and the PNIEC. One of the activities concerns the so-called "cold ironing", i.e. the power supply of ships through the electrification of the land network during stops in port, for which cruise ships are already gearing up - with about a third of the fleet Costa already prepared - in advance of the "cold ironing" projects in the main Italian and Mediterranean ports, which have not yet been implemented.
A further point of the protocol aims to encourage the sustainable tourism, through the development of initiatives related to sustainable electric mobility, both in ports and in cities.
