Ranking: Nabu calls for ban on "dirty cruise ships"

When the "Aida Nova" is christened as planned in Papenburg at the end of August, the Rostock shipping company celebrates a world first. The 337-meter-long ship, with space for about 6,600 passengers, is the world's first cruise ship to be fully run on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Reason enough for the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (Nabu) to place the baptism in first place of this year's cruise ranking.

Aida Cruises

"Aida Nova"

"All the other of the 76 ships studied, including eight out of nine ships coming out this year, are holding on to the dirtiest of fuels, heavy oil," the club said. "A scandal," says Nabu's executive director Leif Miller, "is that there are still ships coming out in 2018 that use heavy fuel oil as fuel and do not use efficient exhaust technology."

Only the Hamburg shipping companies TUI Cruises (a joint venture of TUI and Royal Caribbean Cruises) and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises were placed in the top spots, as their new buildings this year have nitrogen oxide catalysts or are set for shore power supply. The big corporations - MSC Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean - would have little to offer in terms of environmental protection.

In the North Sea and Baltic Sea, however, commercial and cruise ships and ferries since 2015, however, no longer be heavy fuel oil, but only with a diesel fuel on the way, which contains a maximum of 0.1 percent sulfur. Alternatively, the exhaust gases must be cleaned via a scrubber on board.

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The Nabu has been using the ranking for years to draw attention to the problems caused by marine and natural gas emissions. The use of heavy oil causes health and climate damaging emissions of sulfur, soot particles, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide. In particular, the inhabitants of port cities are burdened by the air pollutants.

The cause is for the most part the cruise industry. But this should be a source of inspiration for shipping, demands Dietmar Oeliger, head of transport policy Nabu Federal Association. Especially since, unlike merchant ships, they often travel further into the cities and, because of the hotel's on-board operations, they let the machines run there around the clock.

The environmental organization also makes covert measurements on board cruise ships. The measuring methods had criticized the cruise association Clia in the past as a non-scientific standard and pointed out that the shipowners also pursued the goal of reducing the emissions of their ships. The cruise rankings criticize the clia and call the scoring as arbitrary, each year would count on other criteria.

The Nabu's demand to push ahead with equipping the entire cruise fleet with environmental technologies is already being met, the industry association said in a recent statement. 111 of the currently 253 ships of their members could have exhaust aftertreatment systems, of which a large part would be used in the North and Baltic Seas. The claim that all cruise liners use heavy fuel oil and do not use filter systems is wrong.

Nabu: Industry should significantly reduce CO2 emissions

If LNG is used as fuel instead of heavy fuel oil or marine diesel, a ship hardly emits pollutants in the air. However, the costs and logistics of supply still place high demands on the shipping companies. Some have already ordered LNG ships from shipyards for the coming years, including TUI Cruises, Costa Crociere, P & O and MSC. Nevertheless, there is also a problem with natural gas ships: CO2, since natural gas is also a fossil resource.

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"A recently published study by our umbrella organization Transport & Environment shows once again that LNG brings no significant advantage over diesel when it comes to climate protection," says Dietmar Oeliger. In addition, the environmental benefits are extremely dependent on where the gas comes from, he said, referring to gas being extracted in the US using the controversial fracking method. Shipowners should have their gas purchased by them certified.

In the medium term, the goal should be gas from renewable resources or hydrogen-fueled ships. "For long distances, I do not see any solution in the next few years," said Oeliger. According to Nabu's demand, the industry should develop and use propulsion systems and fuels that significantly reduce CO2 emissions - otherwise the Paris climate targets could not be met.

The environmentalists also call for a harsher approach by the ports: from 2020, "dirty cruise ships" should no longer be allowed to enter. By this the Nabu means ships that have no exhaust technology on board. The shipowners would have had enough time "to decide whether they would install effective exhaust technology on board, burn cleaner fuel or be supplied externally with shore power," says Malte Siegert, Director of Environmental Policy Nabu Hamburg.

"There is no shortage of opportunities, but the will of political decision-makers to demand something from the cruise industry," says Siegert. However, if such a requirement were issued, the Nabu reckons that most cruise ships should be allowed to enter the ports: many ships already met these criteria.

Nabu cruise ranking 2018

Source: Naturschutzbund Germany