Cruise lines get a lot of criticism for fouling up the air with tons of bad stuff emitted from their diesel burning engines. Environmental groups say “rightfully so” as dirty engines can emit a ton of gunk into the atmosphere each time they dock. But there was good news for Norwegian, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean cruise lines who all three won awards from the Port of Seattle for making an environmental difference recently.
The Port of Seattle has presented its 2nd annual Green Gateway Partners Awards honoring the comprehensive environmental achievements of the port’s cruise and containership operators. This year’s award winners include Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Holland America Line.
“These maritime operators demonstrate by their actions every day that you can be good environmental stewards while contributing to our economy,” Tay Yoshitani, CEO of the Port of Seattle told PortWorld news. “We look forward to honouring more of our customers in the future.”
In 2011, the first annual Green Gateway Partners Awards recognized cruise lines for participating in the At-Berth Clean Fuels program, or use of shore power to plug in and turn off engines while docked at shore.
“Each of the companies recognized have demonstrated that you don’t have to choose between the environment and the economy,” said Yoshitani at the time.
Also in 2011, Princess Cruises Island Princess plugged in at the Port of San Francisco to a system that was built as a cooperative effort by the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the Environmental Protection Agency, Holland America Line and Princess.
Princess’ shore power program made history debuting in environmentally extra-sensitive Juneau, Alaska in 2001, expanded to Seattle in 2005, and then to Vancouver in 2009. Currently nine of the line’s ships have the capability to “plug in” to a shore-side power source, representing an investment for Princess of nearly $7 million in equipment.
It’s a topic that comes up often these days as cruise ports green up and look to the future.
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