by Efforts to regulate how cruise ships operate in New York City’s waterways have led locals to speak out about the negative impact the vessels have had on their communities – and their health.
More than 200 cruise ships dock in New York each year, bringing approximately 1.3 million passengers and $420m in tourism spending to the city. But the industry is taking an environmental toll: just one cruise ship stopped at the port for a day can emit the same amount of diesel exhaust as 34,400 used trucks.
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“I could see the black smoke all day long coming out of the funnels,” said Adam Armstrong, a community activist who lived for years across from the Brooklyn cruise ship terminal, in Red Hook. “It was just a terrifying presence.”
A new city council bill would ban diesel-powered luxury liners, requiring them to connect to the city’s power grid when docked, reducing their emissions. The bill would also address traffic, noise and pollution associated with disembarking passengers. If passed, New York would be the first city on the east coast to pass such an ordinance.
“As an environmental justice community, we’re taking a serious look at the damaging infrastructure and all the pollutants in the air,” said council member Alexa Avilés. Avilés, whose district includes Red Hook, introduced the bill in February with council member Erik Bottcher.
“We are seeing a community that is very frustrated with how long it has taken [to adopt] offshore power,” Aviles said. “They’re seeing a situation that’s getting worse, not getting better.”
The move comes nearly a year after one of the world’s largest cruise ships, the 5,600-passenger MSC Meraviglia, began calling in Brooklyn. Residents complained early on about traffic congestion associated with the nearly 600 vehicles arriving to transport passengers to destinations in the city.
“My business, one of the busiest restaurants in Red Hook, was often unable to open on time when Meraviglia was docked because our employees were unable to go to work,” said Susan Povich, owner of Red Hook Lobster Pound and the chairman of the company. Red Hook Business Alliance, rallying to support the bill. “We have one street in and one street out.” She also said that despite its proximity to the dock, there seemed to be few passengers visiting her business.
In 2017, Brooklyn became the first east coast terminal to operate plug-in stations for docked ships, costing the city $21m. By plugging into the local electricity grid at the terminal, ships can continue without burning their diesel-powered engines. But not all vessels connect to shore power – only 40% of cruise ships in service are equipped to plug into shore power, according to an industry group.
The Meraviglia, although shore-powered, is too large to connect to the stationary plug at the Brooklyn terminal. MSC Cruises, which operates the Meraviglia, did not respond to requests for comment.
A representative of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), the nonprofit that runs the cruise terminals, said new long-term agreements with three major cruise operators (which account for 85% of the city’s cruise traffic) require ships at go to sea. Manhattan and Brooklyn terminals to connect to shore power “where possible” and involve traffic mitigation plans.
They also said they were getting a mobile jib that would allow more ships to dock at the Brooklyn cruise terminal, adding “NYCEDC is deeply committed to ensuring that the industry has a safe and sustainable environmental future in New York, and we will continue to discuss it. our elected official partners and members of the local community to gather their input on sustainability measures, traffic mitigation and community benefits.”
Avilés said the EDC expressed support for the legislation “in principle” but wanted to see what it would look like in reality. “They have to get [shore power] in Brooklyn is still 100% functional because they have been dragging their feet on fixing it for several years,” she said.
In addition to the cruise ship terminal, Red Hook, an industrial neighborhood with one of the city’s largest public housing complexes, has three Amazon last-mile warehouses as of 2021. The locations bring a convoy of delivery trucks to narrow streets and alleyways. mostly one-way. . Last year, Guardian reporting found that more than 1,200 trucks and vans pass through one street over the course of a day.
Red Hook has one of the highest rates of asthma-related emergency visits in New York City.
“The pollution from cruise ships, as well as the trucks and last mile facilities is only one part of the growing issue of the large number of pollutants in Red Hook,” said Avilés. “The community is tired of being dumped on as a last resort.”
