Amsterdam Decides to Prohibit Large Cruise Ships in the City Center—Implications for Future Cruises

This week, Amsterdam’s city council voted to halt large cruise ships from entering the city’s core. “The polluting nature of cruise ships contradicts our city’s sustainability goals,” stated Ilana Rooderkerk, leader of the centrist D66 party that proposed the change, in a statement. “Furthermore, having cruise ships in the city center goes against Amsterdam’s efforts to reduce tourist numbers.”

The proposal, which received overwhelming support in the city council on Thursday, seeks to shut down the ocean cruise terminal located near Amsterdam’s central railway station and relocate it to a yet-to-be-determined site farther from the city. However, no specific timeline has been established, and Cruise Port Amsterdam, which manages the terminal, stated it is awaiting further details regarding the next steps.

“There is certainly no immediate ban on ships, nor an instant closure of the terminal,” Dick de Graaff, director of Cruise Port Amsterdam, noted in a statement to Dinogo. He mentioned that the cruise port anticipates welcoming 125,000 cruise ship passengers this year and expects that number to rise to 175,000 next year.

“The city’s executive branch still needs to finalize the details, and it remains unclear when this measure will take effect. No specific year has been provided,” de Graaff added. For now, he stated, “It’s business as usual at the terminal.” Cruise Port Amsterdam also runs the river cruise terminals close to the city center, but it’s unclear if those docks will also need to relocate.

The existing cruise terminal was constructed in 2000 at a cost of approximately 40 million euros, as reported by Cruise Port Amsterdam. Just weeks prior to the city council’s decision, the city approved the installation of shore power connections for both ocean and river cruise ships, which are anticipated to be operational by 2025.

“As the port has made clear, there is no ban on cruise ships operating in Amsterdam,” remarked Sally Andrews, vice president of strategic communications and public affairs for the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), representing most of the world’s cruise lines.

CLIA indicates that of the over 21 million visitors Amsterdam attracts each year, around 1 percent arrive via cruise ships, with cruise tourism contributing roughly 105 million euros to the city’s economy annually.

Talks regarding the relocation of Amsterdam's ocean cruise terminal have been ongoing since 2016, but according to D66’s Rooderkerk, the time for action has arrived.

“The climate crisis is no longer a distant concern; we are experiencing it now,” Rooderkerk stated. “To secure a sustainable and livable future, we must take immediate action. Allowing highly polluting cruise ships to dock in the city center is incompatible with this goal. It’s time to act, as the climate will not wait.”

Amsterdam’s decision mirrors a similar action taken in Venice, Italy, in 2021, where authorities banned ocean cruise ships exceeding 25,000 tons or measuring longer than 530 feet from entering the city’s delicate lagoon. Rooderkerk noted, “As a result, sulfur emissions have decreased by 80 percent” in Venice.

Amsterdam’s initiative to tackle “nuisance tourists”

The recent ban on cruise ships docking in the city center is part of a broader effort by Amsterdam to combat overtourism. Earlier this year, the city introduced a campaign called “Stay Away” to address what it termed “nuisance tourism.”

“This online discouragement initiative targets nuisance tourists looking to visit Amsterdam for rowdy activities and the accompanying disruptions,” the city stated in a release about the campaign. It primarily focused on young males aged 18 to 35 in Great Britain, with plans to extend to other “potential nuisance-causing visitors from the Netherlands and other EU nations.”

“Amsterdam is already implementing numerous measures to combat excessive tourism and disturbances... but we must do even more in the coming years to ensure tourism has a sustainable role in our city,” remarked Sofyan Mbarki, Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, during the campaign launch.

The capital of the Netherlands has also introduced a campaign titled “How to Amsterdam,” which aims to inform visitors about acceptable behaviors while in the city. This includes prohibitions against being drunk and disorderly, making excessive noise, and purchasing drugs from street dealers. Additionally, the city has banned public cannabis smoking and limited alcohol sales in certain parts of the city center.

“We welcome visitors, but not those who misbehave and create disturbances,” Mbarki stated. “In such cases, our message as a city will be: ‘we’d prefer you stay away.’”