101 few hours to explore Seattle luggage-free before heading to the airport.” In total, the cruise industry contributes 5,500 jobs and over $900 million into the state’s economy each year. Along with delivering these economic benefits, the Port of Seattle is also making investments in environmental sustainability. In 2005, it became the first cruise homeport to offer two shore power berths. When a ship connects to shore power at Seattle’s Pier 91, it eliminates the emissions equivalent of an average car driving between Seattle and New York 30 times. As a result, Port of Seattle and its cruise line partners have stopped over 6,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions by switching to shore power since 2018, with an ever-increasing number of ships plugging in. In 2024, a third cruise berth located at Pier 66 will also offer shore power. This will make Port of Seattle one of the first ports in the world with three renewable shore power berths for cruise ships. “The landscape of shore power capable ships continues to change, presenting us with greater variations of plug-in locations on the pier,” says Springmann. “In order to increase shore power connection rates, we are investing further in more flexible connection delivery from the pier, enabling us to continue to meet the needs of different ship configurations and to reach our sustainability and carbon reduction goals. Once shore power is available at our third cruise berth in 2024, we’ll see significant, additional gains in carbon reduction.” Cruise lines, maritime organisations and ports associated with the Alaska cruise route have also joined together with the Port of Seattle as first-movers in creating the Pacific Northwest to Alaska Green Corridor, a shipping route where zero greenhouse gas solutions are tested and deployed. The project is currently the only cruise-focused green corridor in the world. In July, the first-movers launched a prefeasibility study which will provide the technical, governance and infrastructure challenges defining the path to achieving a Pacific Northwest to Alaska Green Corridor for the cruise industry. Seattle also continues to look to the future with investments impacting the tourism sector which will drive its continued success as a cruise homeport. It has committed to deliver capital projects in air and land transportation, tourism infrastructures and cruise operations during a five-year period with most projects expected to be completed by 2024. $756 million Waterfront renovation $1 billion New Convention Center New Ocean Pavilion Aquarium $160 million Third shore power-enabled cruise berth $40 million SEA airport (past five years) $2.4 billion SEA airport (next five years) $4.6 billion 2027 2024 2022 Recent and upcoming investments in Seattle infrastructure: “ Once shore power is available at our third cruise berth in 2024, we’ll see significant, additional gains in carbon reduction”
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