Balearic Islands to limit future number of cruise ship arrivals

Balearic Islands to limit the future number of cruise ship arrivals into Palma

The Government of the Balearic Islands announced on Monday, December 20, its intention to limit the number of cruise ships entering the port of Palma de Mallorca in the future. This action sees them become the first autonomous community in Spain to implement this type of health safety measure.

Only three ships will be allowed to dock on the same day from now on, and only one of those three can be a mega-ship with more than 5,000 passengers.

This agreement was reached at a meeting held in Hamburg on Monday 20, attended by Iago Negueruela, the Minister of the Balearic Islands Economic Model. He met to discuss the future of cruise ship activity in Palma de Mallorca, with the heads of CLIA, Costa Cruises, MSC Cruises, TUI Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Marella Cruises.

As a result of this decision, 15 per cent fewer ships will dock in Palma in 2022. It is something that had been discussed for several years. Environmental organisations, and left-wing parties, had for a long time been demanding a moratorium on the arrival of cruise ships to the Islands.

There have been occasions when as many as ten cruise ships arrived in one day. It brought huge business to the economy, while also sometimes filling the city centre’s streets beyond a comfortable capacity.

In 2022, a total of 460 ships, with more than 500 passengers each, will be able to arrive at the port of Palma. That is compared to the 538 that arrived in 2019, before the pandemic. Regarding the ships with smaller capacity, the agreement allows a maximum of 518, compared to the 594 that docked in 2019.

In a statement, the Balearic Government explained that this is an agreement for the next five years. Despite the fact that the berth reservations in the port of Palma for 2022 are already mostly requested and granted, it has been agreed by both sides to set a series of exceptional days in this agreement. This will be less than 20, thus respecting the contracts already previously signed, as reported by lavanguardia.com.

___________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories, and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.