180,000 cruise ship passengers are about to hit Edinburgh. Big change at Port of Leith may mean even more
A new deep-water channel in the Firth of Forth could be used to bring polluting cruise ships right into the Port of Leith, just as cities like Venice have been kicking them out
When is something that appears to be green actually quite the opposite? That’s a question we need to keep asking ourselves in a society where some of our biggest companies claim to have clean environmental credentials while continuing to dirty the world.
In the world of big business, all is not always what it seems. For the past month, the huge dredger Magnor has been anchored in the Firth of Forth digging a new deep water channel into the Port of Leith.
Ostensibly that is to allow ships access to Scotland’s first turbine blade factory which is being built in Leith, now rebranded as a green freeport. However local boat operators suspect something else is taking shape that promises to be much more lucrative but much less green.
Recent years have seen a huge rise in cruise ship visits to Scotland’s capital city. Starting next week, 115 ships are due to arrive over the course of spring and summer bringing up to 180,000 visitors. That’s almost equivalent to the population of Aberdeen.
A quarter of all ocean waste
Up until now ships had to anchor out in the Forth with small tenders ferrying visitors into Newhaven Harbour. On a choppy, windy day that is not much fun. A deep channel could allow vessels to dock in Leith with passengers disembarking directly down the gangway.
The problem for a green freeport is that cruising is the least sustainable and most polluting form of travel. According to a study for the organisation Transport and the Environment, the holiday cruises operated in Europe last year emitted four times more sulphur oxides than all the continent’s cars combined. And a study for the journal Science Direct showed that a quarter of all ocean waste comes from cruise ships.
Getting planning permission for something with green in the title is much easier than for something that pollutes.
As the health and environmental impacts become clearer, more and more port cities around Europe including Barcelona, Venice and Nice are introducing bans or restrictions on cruise ships. Edinburgh is going full steam ahead in the opposite direction.
Visitor levy
This might be understandable in a place struggling to attract people but Edinburgh is already dealing with some of the issues surrounding over tourism. The visitor levy being introduced next year is designed to mitigate some of the impact and last month the Scottish Government launched a consultation on extending that charge to cruise ship visitors. It’s estimated that could generate up to £3 million a year.
That at least would be something. With passengers sleeping and eating onboard, the only economic benefit at present is for the bus operators and tour companies who secure lucrative contracts to look after the visitors onshore. Small local businesses get next to nothing from the influx.
That’s why we need to have an open and transparent conversation around this. We are all tourists somewhere sometime but the impact we have needs to be part of a wider discussion about whether the benefits outweigh the costs.
The new facility at the Port of Leith has already been put to the test in the shape of the 88,500 tonne Carnival Legend bringing 3,000 tourists to the capital. According to the Port’s operators, that was “a one-off”. Let’s see what happens. Batten down the hatches and watch this space.
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