Cruise Ship Companies Are Working Towards Finding Cleaner Fuel Sources

Cruise ship companies are reportedly working toward plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions and find cleaner sources of fuel. However, environmentalists say that the progress is too slow.

Source: Second Thought/YouTube

The Times reported that cruise company Viking is building cruise ships that will only run on hydrogen fuel cells. This will reportedly cost the company an additional $40 million per ship. Royal Caribbean Group, one of the most popular cruise lines said it would launch a ship in 2023 that is equipped with “a large-scale, hybrid power source,” a combination of fuel cells, batteries, and dual-fuel engines that use liquefied natural gas. Virgin Voyages has also partnered with three companies that are working on biofuel solutions to power its engines in the future.

Now, with the cruise industry ramping back up again after the pandemic, it’s more important than ever that these companies work hard to bring these solutions to fruition as soon as possible. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, cruise ships represent 0.6 percent of total travel carbon emissions. They rely on heavy fuel oil to power the huge engines of the ship.

While the industry has been making claims of working toward a greener future, many have called the companies out for greenwashing.

“There is a lot of greenwashing,” said Sönke Diesener, the transport policy officer at the Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union in Germany (NABU), an environmental organization that studies the industry and ranks cruise companies according to their sustainability plans, The Times reported.

“If you still burn the most toxic fuel on Earth,” he said, “it doesn’t matter if your customers don’t sip drinks from plastic straws.”

Not only are cruise ships polluting with the fuel that they use, but they also leave behind many other forms of Pollution. Cruises to Alaska are one of the most booked cruises in the United States and according to new research, these ships are leaving behind a trail of toxic waste in Canada, including within marine protected areas.

Pollution from cruise ships comes from things like toxic sewage from toilets, greywater from sinks, showers, laundry, and bilge water which is the oily liquid that collects at the lowest part of the ship. WWF says that the largest Pollution source is from scrubbers, which are devices installed to remove exhaust gases like sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, and particles. The scrubbers, however, create acidic wastewater that contains a ‘cocktail of chemicals.’

Sign this petition to tell cruise ships to stop polluting our oceans!

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