AmaWaterways: River Cruises Increasingly Sustainable
AmaWaterways, the award-winning river cruise line, shared details of its ongoing efforts to find new ways to improve the sustainability of river cruising while minimizing fuel consumption.
As an industry leader in innovation, AmaWaterways is committed to finding new ways to reduce its environmental footprint, including using solar panels onboard its ships, testing navigation aids to optimize fuel consumption, reducing paper onboard through the MyAmaCruise app, and addressing the important issue of food waste.
AmaMagna AmaWaterways
“Sustainability is the primary and ever-present responsibility of any company in the travel industry”, said Rudi Schreiner, co-founder and president of AmaWaterways. “Every one of our ships and every itinerary we operate is carefully designed to minimize fuel consumption, but the impact we have on local communities is also of paramount importance to us. We are currently building our two newest ships in Colombia and are proud to be working hand-in-hand with local architects, designers and suppliers to ensure that we not only properly incorporate and honor the natural resources and culture of this beautiful destination, but also improve the lives of local residents along the Magdalena River as many of these communities open up to international visitors for the first time.”
In 2019, AmaWaterways‘ AmaKristina became the first river cruise ship in the industry to receive the prestigious Green Award, which recognizes ships in Europe for their quality, safety and environmental performance. Since then, 19 other river cruise ships in AmaWaterways‘ European fleet have achieved Green Award certification.
AmaKristina
AmaKristina
This year, the innovative AmaMagna will welcome a brand new feature: solar panels on the awnings of selected cabins, which will reduce the fuel consumption associated with heating and cooling the cabins. A new River Track Pilot navigation system will also be tested on several ships to further optimize fuel use based on riverbed configuration and current conditions. In addition, AmaWaterways is addressing growing concerns about food waste by replacing breakfast and lunch buffets with full a la carte menus, which is expected to reduce food waste by up to 30 percent while providing a higher level of service to guests.
While operating sustainable and environmentally friendly ships is key to AmaWaterways, both Zambezi Queen and AmaMagna go above and beyond with eco-friendly features. Zambezi Queen, which explores Africa’s Chobe River, uses a five-stage water purification system that uses water from the river in showers and taps onboard. The ship’s water jet propulsion system replaces a conventional system, ensuring that no damage is done to the riverbed. At night, the ship runs on battery power, and during the day, only low-emission generators are used. AmaMagna is powered by a 10-engine diesel-electric hybrid system, a first for the river cruise industry, which reduces fuel consumption and noise levels. Although the revolutionary ship is twice as wide as traditional river cruise ships, this new engine configuration can reduce fuel consumption by up to 20 percent, depending on river conditions.
AmaMagna Sun Deck
Zambesi Queen
Since its inception more than 20 years ago, AmaWaterways has always focused on connecting with the communities it visits and making a positive impact through employment opportunities and the use of local service providers whenever possible. AmaWaterways is also a proud sponsor of the ODA Free Village English School in Siem Reap, Cambodia, established in 2011, as well as a financial supporter of the Kliptown Youth Program in Johannesburg, South Africa, which provides academic tutoring and arts programs to help local youth lift themselves out of poverty.
ODA Free Village English School AmaWaterways
“From the design of our ships to our onboard and shoreside green initiatives, AmaWaterways continues to explore new ways to enhance our efforts in sustainable tourism. It has always been important to us to protect the waterways we sail and improve the communities we visit by working together to develop tourism projects such as our weekly Oktoberfest in Vilshofen, Germany or our exclusive wine event in Spitz, Austria”, said Kristin Karst, co-founder and executive vice president of AmaWaterways. “We are proud of our Green Awards and will continue to build each new ship and itinerary with sustainability and community enrichment in mind.”
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