A cruise ship departed almost six hours late after a blockade action by around 50 activists in kiel, germany. The ship had sailed late on sunday evening around 22.00 o’clock in the direction of copenhagen, the police said.
The blockaders of the group "smash cruiseshit" considered their protest a success and announced further actions: "there is no quiet hinterland for climate destroyers," it says in a message. They call for an end to the entire cruise industry.
The protesters had begun their action two hours before the cruise ship was scheduled to sail. They cruised with small boats in front of the bow of the ship and stopped it that way. Five activists also occupied a crane on the ostseekai, two of them did not want to leave it and had to be roped down. 46 activists were taken into custody by the police. Criminal proceedings were initiated against them on suspicion of seizure, resistance and trespassing.
The group "smash cruiseshit" explained that they wanted to interrupt the pollutant emission of the cruise ship "zuiderdam" with the action and to draw attention to the working conditions on board. The "exploitation" on board must stop, the activists wrote on twitter, many people on cruise ships had to work for 2 euros an hour. And: "cruise ships contribute to the heating of the planet – due to rub particles that settle on icebergs in the arctic, the ice there is melting even faster."
According to the police, no one was injured during the action, but "smash cruiseshit" wrote on twitter that there were a few light injuries.
The "zuiderdam" is owned by a subsidiary of the major US-based cruise company carnival and can carry almost 2,000 passengers. Kiel was the penultimate stop on a baltic cruise that ended in copenhagen on monday. The shipping company has not yet commented on the incident. She could claim damages from the activists because she was traveling at an increased speed to copenhagen and thus consumed additional fuel.
Cruise tourism has been a booming industry for years and the growth is limited more by the capacity of the ships than by demand. Last year, 2.23 million travelers from germany booked a cruise, an increase of three percent over the previous year. Worldwide, the number of cruise passengers rose by 6.7 percent to 28.52 million.