Cruise liners ‘each spew out as much sulphurous emissions gas per day as 376 MILLION cars’ – experts call for action!
As Harmony of the Seas sets sail from Southampton docks on Sunday with 6,780 passengers and 2,100 crew, many people left behind in Southampton may be glad to see it go. They were reportedly suffering from air pollution every year from such massive ships as cruising becomes the fastest growing sector of the mass tourism industry and as ships get bigger and bigger.
According to Royal Caribbean, the owners of massive cruise ship, each of the Harmony’s three four-storey high 16-cylinder Wärtsilä engines will, at full power, burn 1,377 US gallons of fuel an hour, or about 96,000 gallons a day of some of the most polluting diesel fuel in the world.
Massive Cruise liners Emission Concerns:
- Would probably burn at least 150 tonnes of fuel a day
- Emit more sulphur than several million cars
- Emit more NO2 gas than all the traffic passing through a medium-sized town
- Emit more particulate emissions than thousands of London buses
- Emit over five tonnes of NOX emissions, and 450 kg of ultra fine particles a day
- When they burn low sulphur fuel, it’s 100 times worse than road diesel
Bill Hemmings, marine expert at Brussels-based Transport and Environment group said: “These ships burn as much fuel as whole towns. They use a lot more power than container ships and even when they burn low sulphur fuel, it’s 100 times worse than road diesel.”
Daniel Rieger, a transport officer at German environment group Nabu, said: “Cruise companies create a picture of being a bright, clean and environmentally friendly tourism sector. But the opposite is true. One cruise ship emits as many air pollutants as five million cars going the same distance because these ships use heavy fuel that on land would have to be disposed of as hazardous waste.”
In short the experts have called for an awakening about air pollution, since ship air pollution alone causes over 27,000 premature deaths a year.
Source: The Guardian
