ACO Marine welcomes controversial cruise pollution report

The annual survey of cruise shipping’s impact on the environment, highlights a growing need for the sector to update its sewage treatment technology.

It found that 40% of cruiseships continue to use 35-year-old technology, calling for an urgent upgrade to systems which can be capable of preventing environmental damage from the discharge of poorly treated wastewater streams.

“The FOE report paints a contrasting picture to the environmentally conscientious one offered by the cruise lines themselves,” said Mark Beavis, managing director of ACO Marine.

He added: “That 40% of cruiseships are still using wastewater treatment technology developed in the 1980s suggests that some of these cruiseships are unable to meet current regulatory requirements.”

“Certainly some of these vessels will be incapable of meeting the more stringent requirements set out in MEPC.227 (64), which limits the amount of phosphorous and nitrogen discharged in treated effluent.”

However, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which cooperated with Friends of the Earth on the report card initiative until 2014, has criticised the methodology of the study.

It argues that the project is subjective in its choice of criteria and grading, and that it ignores the substantial investments the cruise industry has made in developing new pollution abatement technologies.

Of the 17 cruise lines FOE assessed for the 2016 report, seven were ‘A’ graded according to four environmental criteria: sewage treatment, air pollution reduction, water quality compliance and transparency. Seven were given grades ranging from C- to F.

Mr concluded added: “With an increasing trend for expedition-type cruising in ecologically sensitive areas, it is paramount to environmental conservation that the cruise sector adopts wastewater technology capable of helping to prevent the nitrification of our seas.”

The full report can be found on the FOE website.