“Lisbon was, in the pre-pandemic period, the European city that received the most cruise ships, and the third in which they were docked the longest, making it one of the European cities most polluted by these ships”, said the municipal group of the PCP, indicating that the high number of vessels docking in the Portuguese capital means a high amount of pollutant emissions.
“These ships are responsible for about 3.5 times more sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions than all the cars in the city for a full year and for one fifth of total nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions.
The recommendation to “create conditions for the supply of electricity to ships moored at the Lisbon Cruises Terminal” was approved by a majority in the municipal assembly, with PPM voting against, MPT abstaining and BE voting in favour, Livre, PEV, PCP, independent deputies (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), PS, PSD, PAN, IL, Aliança, CDS, Chega.
In the same proposal, the idea of “initiating the necessary procedures to restrict the docking of cruise ships based on the fuel used and the amount of polluting emissions produced” was approved with the votes against of PSD, Chega and Aliança, the abstention of IL, MPT and CDS and votes in favour of BE, Livre, PEV, PCP, independents, PS, PAN and PPM.
The assembly also approved a motion by the PAN party to “request the member of the Government responsible for sectoral supervision of the administration of the Port of Lisbon to work with this entity, in order to be launched with the greatest possible as soon as possible, the public tender for the contract aimed at electrifying the Port of Lisbon”.
“This measure must be implemented before 2024, in response to the climate emergency and in line with the commitment made by the executive in 2021”, reads the PAN motion, which was approved with the PPM vote against, the PCP abstention and votes in favour of the remaining municipal groups.