Half Moon Island (Antarctica) (AFP)

Being an environmental dunce, the cruise industry is tentatively trying to get green by exploring several technological paths, hybrid solutions to the return of sailing.

. A pollutant sector

Climate footprint and, above all, atmospheric pollution ... The cruise has no good press: the vast majority of cruise ships fuel heavy fuel, cheap but full of pollutants (sulfur, nitrogen, fine particles) likely to generate, among others, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

To date, this fuel is only banned in Antarctica.

According to one of the European NGO group Transport & Environment, 203 cruise ships sailing in Europe emitted more than 10 million tonnes of CO2 in 2017, the equivalent of the annual emissions of Luxembourg or Cyprus.

According to the study, these same ships rejected 20 times more sulfur oxide that year than the 260 million vehicles circulating on the Old Continent.

If progress is made, they are slow.

"Only a small proportion of the fleet becomes cleaner, while the industry globally continues to use heavy fuel oil and still does not use scrubbers" exhaust emissions, notes the German NGO Nabu in its 2019 cruise ships

As of 1 January 2020, the sulfur content of marine fuels will be limited to 0.5%, except for ships with scrubbers, compared to 3.5% currently, according to a new regulation of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

In some areas, such as the North Sea or the Baltic Sea, the maximum permitted level is already 0.1%.

Scrubbers themselves are disputed because, in the maritime sector in general, most of the shipowners who equip them opt for an open circuit, with the discharge of pollutants at sea, rather than a closed system, where the filtered sulfur is stored on board the boats.

Several countries, especially in Europe and Asia, have banned the first category in their waters and ports, or are preparing to do so.

. Different tracks

- "Prius of the seas". The world's first diesel-electric hybrid cruise ship - soon followed by a twin - the Roald Amundsen launched this summer by the Norwegian company Hurtigruten operates much like the Toyota Prius car. Two battery compartments replace the four diesel engines during peak demand, which, according to Hurtigruten, reduces fuel consumption and emissions by 20%.

- Hybrid (bis). The French Ponant has opted for an electric hybrid with dual propulsion (LNG / fuel) for its cruise cruiser Commander Charcot, currently under construction. Available in 2021, the ship, which will sail to the geographic North Pole, will be zero emissions in electric mode (for a few hours). In LNG mode, CO2 emissions will be reduced by 25%, nitrogen oxide by 85% and fine particles by 95%, depending on the company. Like Hurtigruten before it, Ponant voluntarily gave up this year heavy fuel on all its ships.

- Full gas. Launched in 2018 and 2019, the mastodons Aida Nova and Costa Smeralda, capable of carrying more than 6,500 passengers each, dominate the Nabu rankings. Owned by the Italian Costa Cruises (via its German subsidiary Aida for the first), these two ships are the first to be propelled to liquefied natural gas (LNG), which means that they produce very little fine particles. Several other LNG liners are on order.

- In the wind. Shipyards revisit sailing. Chantiers de l'Atlantique is developing, for example, the Silenseas concept combining rigid sails ("Solid Sail") and other propulsion and energy production technologies (LNG, batteries, etc.), again reducing emissions. .

- Plugged in. Some companies like Aida and the American Princess Cruises have also decided to turn their ships so that they can connect to the power grid ashore when they are in port, rather than letting their engines run, a source of major pollution in the cities visited. Still rare, terrestrial infrastructures tend to develop.

- Compensation. The Swiss MSC Cruises has set itself the goal of becoming the first major carbon-neutral cruise group by financing from 1 January 2020 projects to offset its emissions around the world.

© 2019 AFP