Royal Caribbean Cruises is to spend millions of pounds fitting new technology to UK based ship Independence of the Seas that will halve engine carbon dioxide emissions.
The operator has teamed up with Singapore-based EcoSpec to install the equipment on one of the vessel’s engines.
Jamie Sweeting, the line’s environmental stewardship and global chief environmental officer, said Independence was chosen to have the new emissions ‘scrubber’ fitted for a number of reasons.
The ship is based year round in one port – Southampton – it is large enough to accommodate the ‘scrubber’ and the UK is home to the International Maritime Organisation that regulates shipping.
“To able to get the key officials and regulators from the IMO to come and visit to see the system will be important,” he said. “We are very excited we have chosen a ship based in the UK year round to pilot this. This is the first time it will be fitted on to a passenger ship.”
The technology uses a shower-like system to capture CO2 and sulphur dioxide. Sweeting said he expects it will capture about 50%-60% of CO2 and up to 98% of SO2.
As well as an environmental rationale Sweeting said there was also a financial reason for doing this because it will allow the ship to use less costly fuel. When the ship is in port is needs only one engine to power its facilities so once the system is fitted it will be just about the cleanest ship afloat when docked, he claimed.
Sweeting said the move was among a programme of initiatives Royal Caribbean is using to limit the environmental impact of its operations. He said the operator was ahead of schedule to reduce emission by a third per passenger per day by 2013.
The line is also on track to recycle 50% of its waste ahead of its target of 2015, with current performance at around 40%. And there is currently a $200 million programme to fit the latest waste water purification technology to the line’s fleet.
A deal stuck with a firm in Florida to take away waste that can’t be recycled on the ship will see up to 85% either re-used or recycled. Sweeting said as much as 95% of waste generated by new ship Allure of the Seas, one of two of the world’s largest, will be recycled in some way.
He said it was important the cruise industry continually upped its game in terms of its environmental procedures. “This is a journey. We are certainly not anywhere close to the destination. We have a mantra which is continuous improvement.
“We know we are not perfect but we have a commitment that we will be better tomorrow than we are today.” The aim for Royal Caribbean is to offset any criticism of the impact of burning fossil fuels to take guests on holiday by making its ships comparable in terms of the emissions attributable to a land-based equivalent.
“If you take a bucket and spade flight out of the UK and stay in one of the tower block hotels in the Costas then our carbon footprint is higher,” Sweeting said. “But if you look at flying in business class to stay in a top resort – an equivalent product to this – I think you will find we compare favourably.”