The Nature and Biodiversity Union (NABU) is lambasting the cruise industry for running ships on heavy fuel oil, without recognising the sector's long-term plans to lower exhaust emissions.
"It is scandalous that in 2018 there are still ships coming into the market which are built to use heavy fuel oil as fuel," NABU chief executive Leif Miller said.
NABU put LNG-powered AIDAnova atop its 2018 ranking of vessels, while saying LNG emits the same level of greenhouse gas as diesel and calling out other operators as "dirty".
"Especially the giants MSC Cruises, Carnival Cruise and Royal Caribbean present nothing in the field of air pollution reduction" for this year, the environmental group said.
NABU told TradeWinds that the ranking covers only existing ships but said during a press conference that 18 of 56 order cruiseships will run on LNG.
"But with the current fleet Carnival, MSC or Royal Caribbean show a bad picture in terms of sustainability," said Dietmar Oeliger, head of transport policy.
NABU also said LNG is a "dead end" for climate change as it has more greenhouse gas emissions than diesel.
Cruiseship owners do, however, have plans in play to lower emissions by 2020, the year of the low-sulphur mandate, and beyond.
Miami-based Carnival, which also owns Carnival Cruise, has ordered 11 LNG-powered ships due by 2025 and has two vessels afloat that use LNG in port.
The company also plans to have exhaust gas scrubbers on 80% of its 105-vessel fleet by 2020, the year all ships will need to lower sulphur emissions to 0.5%.
“As the cruise industry’s market leader in Germany, Aida Cruises is conscious of its responsibility," Hansjorg Kunze, vice president of communication and sustainability, told TradeWinds.
"For many years we have been doing pioneering work in the field of the development and practical use of new, efficient environmental technologies on board our ships and are investing millions of euros every year."
Meanwhile, RCCL and TUI Group of Germany have ordered two LNG-powered ships for their TUI Cruises venture, to be delivered 2024 and 2026.
The Richard Fain-led company also plans to have scrubbers on 60% to 70% of its 49 vessels by 2020, while the rest will run on low-sulphur marine gas oil.
Last month, Geneva-based MSC ordered a fifth LNG-powered ship to arrive in 2023 in a partnership with STX France.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings plans to have two-thirds of its 26 ships outfitted with scrubbers with more installations planned through 2021.
Emails to Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL), MSC and Norwegian were not immediately returned.
