Taking advantage of the rising demand for cruises, Royal Caribbean International‘s Icon of the Seas, with 20 decks and space for 8,000 guests, sets sail from Miami.
The ship is built to run on LNG, even though it burns more cleanly and has a larger risk of methane emissions than traditional marine fuel. Environmental groups contend that methane leaks from ship engines pose an unacceptable risk since they have a direct impact on the environment.
Bryan Comer is the director of the Marine Program of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), an environmental policy think tank. It is what he calls “a step in the wrong direction.”
“We calculate that the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from using LNG as a marine fuel are over 120% higher than those from using marine gas oil,” he said.
Methane has warming effects that are 80 times worse than carbon dioxide’s over a 20-year period; therefore, reducing emissions is crucial to slowing the rise in global temperatures.
When gasoline is used in dual-fuel, low-pressure engines—such as those found on cruise ships like Icon of the Seas—methane is emitted into the atmosphere. This phenomenon is known by local experts as “methane slip.” Two more engines that are utilized on bulk carriers or container ships produce less methane, despite the fact that they are too tall to accommodate on a cruise ship.
Royal Caribbean claims that the new ship is 24% more carbon-efficient than what is required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which oversees shipping globally.
According to Steve Esau, CEO of Sea-LNG, an industry advocacy group, most of the world’s maritime fleet runs on very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), which emits higher carbon emissions than LNG.
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Cylinders that are naturally gas-filled power cruise engines. As head of R&D and engineering at cruise ship engine maker Wärtsilä, Juha Kytölä emphasizes how critical it is to ensure that every single natural gas molecule is transformed into energy.
He continued by saying that Wärtsilä’s natural gas engine technology produces 90% less methane today than it did twenty or thirty years ago. Everything that burns without changing can escape and reach the atmosphere, he reasoned.
A study backed by the ICCT and other partners predicts that the average methane slip of cruise ship engines will reach 6.4% in 2024, which is higher than the IMO’s projection of 3.5%.
Transportation advocate Anna Barford from Canada said, “Methane is under more scrutiny.”
According to a statement issued last summer by the nonprofit organization Stand Earth, one of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) aims in its endeavors to limit greenhouse gas emissions is the reduction of methane emissions.
According to a survey done by the Cruise Line International Association, sixty-three percent of the 54 ships that are expected to be delivered between January 2024 and December 2028 will be LNG-powered. Out of the 300 cruise ships that are currently in service, about 6% are LNG-powered.
Three distinct fuel types are used in the construction of modern cruise ships: LNG, regular marine gas oil, or bio-LNG, which accounts for a relatively small portion of fuel used in the US.
Vice President of Royal Caribbean’s Environmental, Social, and Governance Nick Rose announced that the business will adjust its fuel mix in response to changes in the market.
In his speech, he said, “LNG is a component of our overall strategy.”
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