Passengers stranded for hours Activists block cruise ship access to Amsterdam

Climate activists from the group Extinction Rebellion prevented a cruise ship from entering the port of Amsterdam on Sunday. They attached themselves to two locks in the port of Ijmuiden, the gateway for North Sea shipping traffic to Amsterdam.

As a result, access for the cruise ship "Serenade of the Seas", a ship with space for a thousand passenger cabins, was blocked, a port spokeswoman said on Sunday. An oil tanker was also blocked.

According to the ANP news agency, the Dutch police ended the blockade at around 5 p.m. and the cruise ship was able to sail on to its destination. Eight activists were briefly taken into police custody, but no arrests were made, a police spokesman said.

Blockade actions again and again

"Oil kills, stop the cruise ships" was spray-painted on one of the locks, as seen in a livestream from Extinction Rebellion.

It was the second action of this kind within a few days in the vicinity of the port of Amsterdam. On August 10, 2,000 passengers from a blocked cruise liner were transported to Schiphol Airport by bus and train, as reported by Dutch broadcaster NOS.

The climate activists from Extinction Rebellion have been repeatedly organizing blockades since 2022. Most recently, the important A12 highway in The Hague was particularly affected. According to the group, its actions are primarily a protest against subsidies for fossil fuels.

Amsterdam wants to reduce the number of ships

According to a study by the non-governmental organization Transport and Environment, cruise ships released more than eight million tons of CO2 in European waters in 2022. This is equivalent to 50,000 flights from Paris to New York. Nevertheless, according to the Federal Environment Agency, flying is the most climate-damaging form of transportation.

The municipality of Amsterdam is planning to reduce the number of ocean cruises from 2026 in order to make tourism in the city more sustainable.