Recycling - CLIA Alaska

New Rules Bring New Fleet of Ships

Scenic Eclipse uses its propellers to cut through tough ice.

A new fleet of environmentally friendly ships has debuted to meet the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code).

Adopted by the International Maritime Organization, the code spells out regulations concerning the ships’ construction, equipment and training of their crews. The Polar Code is intended to increase the safety of ships and pay greater attention to environmental protection.

Cruise lines are taking different approaches to meeting the regulations.

Aurora Expeditions’ new ship will feature patented X Bow technology which allows the vessel to pierce waves with much greater stability. As the ship is then less subject to the vertical motions induced by the waves, she continues on course more smoothly, maintaining speed and using less fuel.

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises have recently completed the upgrade of one of their expedition ships, MS Bremen, to make her Polar Code compliant. New additions to the world fleet will of course be compliant from the very start, and across the range of construction we are seeing increasing focus on building environmentally friendly ships, and some fantastic innovative developments on the technical side.

Hapag-Lloyd is optimizing the hulls of its ships to achieve the maximum reduction in fuel consumption for the propulsion system and using SCR catalytic converters, which reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by almost 95%.

Ponant‘s new generation of expedition vessels goes to the next level, with a total commitment to reducing the company’s impact on the environment, building on initiatives such as the dynamic positioning system to avoid dropping anchor, hence protecting the seabed, silent and economic electric propulsion, and Farsounder Sonar providing 3D vision of the seabed at different depths.

On Scenic Eclipse, the ship will actually use its propellers to cut through tough ice. The Azipod propulsion system is at the bow of the ship, which is the reverse of the layout on most cruise ships. The propellers can spin so fast that the pressure of water will split ice ahead of the ship and the blades will chew up the pieces and spit them up and away from the hull so the ship will not need ice-breaker assistance.

In Vancouver, B.C., Tymac Launch Service typically removes 42 tons of aluminum during the cruise season, along with 261 tons of cardboard and 207 tons of scrap metal, and sends 22 loads of wood to the recyclers.

Ships Are Some of World’s Biggest Recyclers

Cruise ships are some of the world’s most comprehensive recyclers. All waste materials aboard the ships are recycled, incinerated or offloaded and disposed of in approved shoreside facilities. Materials to be recycled are compacted, crushed or baled and stored on the ships until they are turned over to an approved vendor for disposal.

One line donates its crushed aluminum to the Boy Scouts in Juneau, another offloads its used cooking oil for use as biofuel and others donate used bedding to various non-profits.

Materials to be recycled are compacted, crushed or baled and stored on board the ships until they are turned over to an approved vendor for disposal.

In Vancouver, B.C., Tymac Launch Service has the contract to service the ships that homeport there for the summer. Tymac typically removes 42 tons of aluminum during a season, along with 261 tons of cardboard and 207 tons of scrap metal and sends 22 loads of wood to the recyclers. Each week it hands over an average of six large boxes of printer and toner cartridges to the Vancouver Food Bank. The cartridges are sold to a recycler for a small fee.