Carnival UK backs ‘averaging’ proposal to meet ECA regulations
David Dingle, chief executive of Carnival UK, said that, in response to the 0.1% sulphur content cap in emission-controlled areas (ECAs) in 2015, cruise ships would sail more slowly and would need to call at new and fewer ports
In an interview with Travel Trade Gazette he is quoted as saying: New ships will go down the route of creating more variety onboard, as calling at lots of ports becomes less possible . If you look at our order bookings across our brands for new ships, you can see that they are bigger than the existing ships we have.
Mr Dingle also said he backed a proposal by the Cruise Lines International Association which has proposed a way of allowing ships to use higher sulphur fuels in once the 0.1% sulphur content cap comes in to force.
According to Mr Dingle, the director of environmental and health programmes at CLIA, Bud Darr, is proposing an interpretation of the IMOs fuel rules that advocates the averaging principle – where ships would be able to burn higher-sulphur fuels as long as the average emission impact for the entire journey does not surpass the overall limit. Travel Trade Gazette reports Mr
Dingle as saying that Carnival was in full support of CLIAs proposal.
He said: It would mean we could maintain compliance overall but still have flexibility. The argument of averaging is the most appropriate way the cruise industry can comply with the current laws. he said.
However he also said that the sector was still likely to alter, even if cruise lines were given leave to follow CLIAs interpretation. He said: We will have to become more efficient anyway, because of the rising cost of fuel, which is making all cruise companies rethink their itineraries. We may have to go to fewer ports, or run at a constant speed to keep the same configurations for the engine. This might mean we start offering different choices of ports than we do at the moment, if we travel at a constant speed along one coast, for example.
David Dingle, chief executive of Carnival UK, said that, in response to the 0.1% sulphur content cap in emission-controlled areas (ECAs) in 2015, cruise ships would sail more slowly and would need to call at new and fewer ports
In an interview with Travel Trade Gazette he is quoted as saying: “New ships will go down the route of creating more variety onboard, as calling at lots of ports becomes less possible . If you look at our order bookings across our brands for new ships, you can see that they are bigger than the existing ships we have.”
Mr Dingle also said he backed a proposal by the Cruise Lines International Association which has proposed a way of allowing ships to use higher sulphur fuels in once the 0.1% sulphur content cap comes in to force.
According to Mr Dingle, the director of environmental and health programmes at CLIA, Bud Darr, is proposing an interpretation of the IMO’s fuel rules that advocates the “averaging principle” – where ships would be able to burn higher-sulphur fuels as long as the average emission impact for the entire journey does not surpass the overall limit. Travel Trade Gazette reports Mr Dingle as saying that Carnival was in “full support” of CLIA’s proposal.
He said: “It would mean we could maintain compliance overall but still have flexibility. The argument of ‘averaging’ is the most appropriate way the cruise industry can comply with the current laws.” he said.
However he also said that the sector was still likely to alter, even if cruise lines were given leave to follow CLIA’s interpretation. He said: “We will have to become more efficient anyway, because of the rising cost of fuel, which is making all cruise companies rethink their itineraries. We may have to go to fewer ports, or run at a constant speed to keep the same configurations for the engine. This might mean we start offering different choices of ports than we do at the moment, if we travel at a constant speed along one coast, for example.”
Source: World Bunkering
