Riverboats to renewables: charting a greener future with quick wins and big plans
Read time: 2 minutes
Read time: 2 minutes
annual carbon savings
annual savings
City Cruises operate a fleet of sightseeing, dining, and private hire vessels, accommodating 230,000 passengers a year along York’s rivers.
The company is passionate about supporting York’s net zero ambition and looking for expert advice on how to manage this across a complex fleet. Some of the boats operated by City Cruises are over 40 years old, with engines running on red diesel and vessels constructed without the climate in mind. City Cruises reached out to the Green Economy team in April 2024 to understand how to sustainability across their operations.
Suhail Ahmed, Sustainability Consultant at Green Economy met with Chris Pegg, Head of Regional Commercial, Sales & Marketing at City Cruises, and Jo Dykes, Head of Fleet & Waterway Operations, visiting their boatyard situated on the River Ouse in York to assess the fleet, energy use equipment to develop an actionable carbon reduction plan.
Chris said: “We do as much as we can to be sustainable, but our options weren’t always clear. Suhail visited our site and outlined six suggestions for sustainable growth. We’ve since acted on two of these six recommendations, focusing on two quick wins.”
The City Cruises team is in the process of replacing 38 fluorescent bulbs with LEDs, generating anticipated annual energy savings of 5,788 kWh, annual cost savings of £1,157.67, and carbon savings of 1,304 kgCO2e.
In addition, Suhail identified three machines continuously in operation without needing to be. Simply turning off these machines out of usage periods has generated further energy savings of 1,569 kWh annually.
Chris said:
“Sustainability has been a key inclusion in our awards applications and recognitions. We’re starting to see how sustainability can give the business a competitive edge and attract more customers.”
Over the course of the next few years, City Cruises is strongly considering implementing the additional recommendations from the action plan, such as the installation of a 16 KW solar system, which could make annual savings of around £4,603. The action plan means that they now have a business case to present to their US parent company.
Suhail Ahmed said:
“Implementing a carbon reduction strategy can be very overwhelming to businesses that want to do the right thing for their customers. My role is to help break this into manageable projects that will bring cost and carbon reductions to drive further action."
“City Cruises is doing exactly the right thing. They have a complete picture of how to improve sustainability to appeal to their customers and bring their costs down. They now have a plan in place to achieve this over the coming years.
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