The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Coast Goard authorized formal exemptions to Royal Caribbean that will give the cruise line time to develop and install exhaust gas scrubber systems on its cruise ships.
Royal Caribbean announced earlier this week it was adding the scrubbers to 13 of its cruise ships from the current base of six ships that have the technology.
Royal Caribbean’s research program has developed exhaust gas scrubber technology that has the potential to provide greater emission reductions than would be achieved using only ECA compliant low-sulfur fuel, and at a much lower cost. Under this research program extension, a total of 13 Royal Caribbean ships covering a range of vessel sizes and applications will begin using these scrubbers starting in 2015.
These permits provide a temporary relief from the ECA’s fuel sulfur content requirements. This approach will enable Royal Caribbean to meet its emission requirements through exhaust gas scrubber technology, rather than with engine and fuel system modifications
This advanced emission control technology will be used in waters surrounding U.S. coasts, known as Emission Control Areas (ECAs). Because emissions from ocean-going vessels can harm air quality on land, the U.S. government requires ships operating within the North American and U.S. Caribbean ECAs to reduce harmful air pollution emissions such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide, and particulate matter. The ECAs were developed by the United States and Canada through an agreement with the International Maritime Organization in order to protect human health and the environment by significantly reducing air pollution from ocean-going vessels. EPA estimates that by 2020 the low sulfur ECA requirements will have prevented as many as 14,000 premature deaths and relieved respiratory symptoms for nearly 5 million people in the United States and Canada.
