ABSTRACT: The investment policy applied by seaport authorities has a great impact on the state of the natural environment in coastal regions. Unfortunately, in many cases, their environmental efforts are limited to the issues which are defined by the applicable legal regulations determined by International Maritime Organization, the Organization of United Nations and the European Commission etc. However, in recent years we can observe significant improvement in this area, especially in the seaports of Northern Europe. They often decide on highly capital-intensive pro-ecological investments allowing to reduce the level of pollution emitted from cruise ships during their handling in ports, such as e. g. the opportunity of connecting vessels to the shore-side energy supply systems. Various solutions in this area are currently used in the world. The ports in Northern Europe are currently the leaders in this area. The use of such solutions is cost-intensive, but it significantly reduces the level of pollution emitted by ships into the environment, and the level of noise and vibration caused by engines. This paper aims to assess the seaports' involvement in Northern Europe in the preparation of seaport infrastructure enabling cruise ships to be connected to the onshore power supply systems. The article contains the results of surveys conducted with the use of two methods to adjust the research technique to the respondents’ needs, i.e. CASI (Computer-Assisted Self Interviewing) and EMS (Electronic Mail Survey). The empirical research was conducted among the seaports in Northern Europe. The results of the survey may be of interest to seaport authorities and cruise ship owners.

KEYWORDS: Port Infrastructure, Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), Energy Efficiency, Cruise Seaports, Cruise Shipping, Environmental Sustainability, Onshore power supply, Environmental Ship Index

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