Major cruise firm Carnival Corporation officially opened its second cruise terminal at the Port of Barcelona with an inauguration ceremony attended by government, business and community representatives. The Helix terminal will accommodate Carnival’s new class of next-generation “green” cruise ships to be fully operated by LNG.
At over 46 million euros, the Helix terminal, along with the company’s existing terminal at the port, represent Carnival’s largest combined terminal investment in Europe.
Carnival Corporation’s deployment of LNG-fueled ships to the port is aligned with the pioneering ‘Air Quality Improvement Plan’ proposed by the Port of Barcelona in November 2016 to reduce emissions from port activities.
Last year, Barcelona became the first cruise port in the Mediterranean with facilities to supply cruise ships with LNG. In total, Carnival Corporation currently has agreements in place to build nine fully LNG-powered cruise ships across four of its nine global cruise brands in coming years.
Colom, councilor of tourism, commerce and markets for the Barcelona City Council, stated:
Barcelona needs operators strongly committed to its visitors, but also to the city. We need operators with whom we can work side by side to improve the sustainability and the social return that tourist activity generates in the city, reducing to the maximum its externalities. We are already collaborating with the port and the Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA) in this direction, and it will be essential to also have the active involvement of important cruise line operators, such as Carnival Corporation, who have clearly opted for Barcelona, to have a port for the city, more straightforward, open and much more citizen.
Eight brands from Carnival Corporation – AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn and P&O Cruises – visit Barcelona throughout the year, with six of those eight brands operating full or partial homeporting in Barcelona in 2018. Carnival Corporation is expecting to accommodate over one million passenger movements at the port in 2018, with 289 calls by 38 different ships.
