Dutch Environmentalists Renew Protests Delaying Cruise Ships and Tanker

Three cruise ships and an oil product tanker were all impacted yesterday August 18 due to protests regarding the environment by the Dutch branch of the group Extinction Rebellion. It was the second weekend that the group sought to call attention to its cause by blocking the entrances to the Port of Amsterdam in the Netherlands as they promised more actions including a mass demonstration planned for the end of August.

“Extinction Rebellion is calling for an immediate end to the cruise industry due to the urgent and rapidly escalating climate and ecological crisis,” the group wrote in its statement. Among the banners they hung was one reading "You are not welcome here."

A small band of protestors took to the Noordersluis and Zeeslius in Ijmuiden west of Amsterdam. Reports said members of the group tied themselves to the lock gates preventing their operation. All ships going to Amsterdam pass through the locks. 

The group said it was “deliberately delaying” the passage of three cruise ships into the city. Royal Caribbean International’s Serenade of the Seas was due to pass through the locks on Sunday, August 18, with the German-operated Amera also due to pass the locks. The British-operated cruise ship Ambition had also been scheduled to call in Amsterdam but on Saturday night advised passengers it would be diverting to Ijumuiden and providing buses into the city.

Last week, the group succeeded in prompting Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas to reverse course and dock also in Ijumuiden. Regent Sea Seas Cruises’ Mariner of the Seas was delayed but able to proceed to the port after the police removed the protestors.

 

Tanker was forced to wait at the lock until police cleared the protest (Extinction Rebellion)

 

The group was also successful this week in blocking the product tanker Sten Neptun (16,500 dwt). The vessel registered in Portugal has been operated by Stenersen in Norway since they acquired the vessel in 2022.

Extinction Rebellion is demanding a meeting with the new Minister of Climate and Green Growth. Sophie Hermans took the post as of August 16 and also serves as the Second Deputy Prime Minister under the newly elected government. The group in its reports says the minister has not been serious in her responses.

They are also planning a mass rally on August 31. Efforts have been building toward the event which will include several days of prep and wind down.

The country’s former minister of justice, Dilan Yesilgöz, took to social media on Sunday to dismiss the protest and call for the group to stop its actions. She called them a “nuisance,” while saying the group should stop “wasting precious police resources.”

Media reports indicated that the police were called to the lock on Sunday afternoon. The protestors were taken into custody but later released without being arrested. The cruise ship and tanker were able to proceed to the port.