Cruise ship pollution in the spotlight after vessels busted in Alaska come to NZ

Friday, 26 October 2018

Cruise vessels will have to toe the line on smoke emissions if New Zealand signs up to an international convention cutting back sulphur levels in fuel.

Six big cruise ships visiting New Zealand this summer have been busted for polluting pristine Alaskan sounds in recent months, and their practices will come under scrutiny here amid moves to tighten fuel regulations.

Vessels issued with violations for breaching air quality and water standards over the summer season by the Alaskan Department of Environmental Conservation included the Amsterdam (1), Golden Princess (3), Norwegian Jewel (1), Radiance of the Seas (2), Noordam (1) and Seabourn (1).

All are cruising New Zealand waters this season.

The Alaska Department of Law has yet to decide what enforcement action to take, but fines for air pollution can be about US$46,200 (almost NZ$71,000) per violation.

The owners of the vessels concerned also did not fare well in the Friends of the Earth's 2016 cruise ship report card which rated companies from A to F based on their sewage treatment, efforts to reduce air pollution, compliance with Alaska water quality regulations and their transparency in responding to requests for information.

The Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Princess Cruises got C grades, while Royal Caribbean International, Carnival and Seabourn Cruise Lines were rated D.

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Friends of the Earth is highly critical of the impact of the rapidly expanding cruise industry has on highly sensitive environments such as Alaska saying they produce huge volumes of sewage sludge, garbage and harzardous wastes.

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Cruise spending is worth more than $400m annually with 975 port visits scheduled this summer season.

In 2016, Princess Cruises was fined a record $40m for deliberately illegally dumping oil-contaminated waste for eight years and trying to cover it up.

The offending came to light after a new engineer blew the whistle on use of a 'magic pipe' to bypass pollution prevention equipment.

Under a 2017 settlement with the United States Department of Justice, the cruise line remains on probation for five years, its website says.

Maritime New Zealand is well aware of that. Deputy director of the quality assurance team Kenny Crawford said it would focus on handling of waste oil when inspecting Princess Cruises' vessels.

'I wouldn't expect to find a problem this time, but we'll certainly be looking … we're well aware of the magic pipes as they call them.'

Southland harbour master Lyndon Cleaver is also cracking down on smoke from cruise ship funnels after several complains about air pollution in Milford Sound last summer.

He said 'scrubbers' to reduce sulphur dioxide levels emitted from the ships may become mandatory when an access agreement between Environment Southland and the cruise industry is reviewed.

Rules over cruise ships entering Milford Sound could be tightened to reduce smoke pollution after several complaints last summer.

Royal Caribbean's giant Ovation of the Seas – the subject of a complaint – had scrubbers, but they were not in use because current New Zealand regulations did not require it.

'I said that's good for other ports, but when you come into Fiordland, we expect you to go above and beyond.'

Royal Caribbean said it was not aware of any complaints, but three of its four ships cruising here this summer had scrubbers fitted and would operate them in the fiords.

The cruise company said it was appealing the Alaska air quality violations for Radiance of the Seas because it did not believe the standard applied took account of the clean water vapour emitted by the air purification system.

Carnival Australia said there was 'no legal action current or anticipated' over its Alaskan season, and most of its ships cruising New Zealand would have scrubber technology.

Smoke from a cruise ship drifts across Akaroa Harbour. Scrubber technology can reduce levels of sulphur emissions, but their use in New Zealand waters is not yet mandatory.

'In normal circumstances it would be used during local operations including in Fiordland.'

New Zealand has yet to sign up to Annex VI of the International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships which would lower the maximum sulphur content allowable in fuel from 3.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent for all vessels from 2020.

A report on air quality says sulphur dioxide levels are at their highest close to Auckland's waterfront.

A discussion document is due to go to the Cabinet shortly with industry consultation to follow.

Maritime law expert Dr Bevan Marten said most other OECD nations had signed, and New Zealand's tardiness left the the way open for shipping operators to save money by using cheaper bunker fuel here.

'In North America and Europe it's 0.1 per cent, they changed years ago, while New Zealand is still at the other end of the spectrum.'

An Auckland city air quality report found concentrations of sulphur dioxides were up to four times higher on the downtown waterfront than at any other site in Auckland.

It said use of poor quality fuel by shipping contributed significantly.

Atmospheric scientist Jennifer Barclay said cruise ships tended to berth closer to city centres than other ocean-going vessels, exposing people to pollutants linked to increased rates of diseases such as lung cancers, heart disease and asthma.

Waterfront apartment blocks at the height of smoke plumes bore the brunt of pollution, and she favoured having cruise ships plug into electricity while berthed to avoid running their engines 24/7.

Ports of Auckland is considering installing an electricity connection for cruise ships, but given that passengers and crew numbers were often the equivalent of a small town, a port spokesman said it would be a major undertaking costing at least $18m, and only about a third of cruise ships were able to hook up to shore power.