“There is no doubt that 2020 has been a greatly challenging year,” said Commercial Director at the Ports of Tenerife, Elisa Zamora.

Despite that, Tenerife has been one of the first ports in the world to welcome cruise passengers after the pandemic.

“(S)ince the pandemic is getting under control, some countries and markets are being gradually opened, most of the cruise lines have released several new itineraries that allow cruise ships to start sailing again. This industry has proved its resilience, innovation and 2020 problem solving, so, we hope it will thrive again. We are looking forward to seeing how most cruise lines resume operations from various ports around the world in the coming months,” Zamora said.

“Consequently, the ports of Tenerife are already receiving berthing requests for the coming months and seasons,” she added.

Among Tenerife’s “green” initiatives, Zamora named replacing the lighting with LEDs, driving electric cars and carrying out many LNG-related initiatives.

“(W)e usually supply LNG to ships. The AIDAnova has being supplied with LNG in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife since 2018, and, at the same time, we work with private investors to provide LNG through OPS (shore power supply) to cruise ships,” Zamora explained.

“(I)f 100% renewable energy is used, as is the case in this port authority, near‐zero emissions of all kinds of air pollutants can be achieved,” she added.

Ports of Tenerife has also implemented a systematic control of the quality of water and sediments to guarantee the European standard ROM 5.0. It also offers reduced port taxes to those cruise lines that show good use of environmental practices.

Among Tenerife’s recent infrastructure projects is the renovation of the bollards in order to allow higher tonnage and security moorings for large cruise ships.

Tenerife’s Port of Santa Cruz de La Palma, on the other hand, will soon expand its berthing line by 125 additional meters.

“(W)e are (also) dredging in the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife to obtain a greater draft as well as other interesting new infrastructure projects that will be carried out in the coming years, which will serve to strengthen the cruise market and be a good option for cruise lines, adequately attending to current demands and also to any new requirements,” said Zamora.