Heading for the climate change conference, ‘hotel’ ship that’ll spew out the same volume of pollutants as ONE MILLION cars
WHEN the giant cruise liner MS Silja Europa slips away from the dock at Tallinn, Estonia, this week, it will fire up its powerful 31,800-kilowatt diesel engines and head out into the open sea, writes Georgia Edkins.
As it sails to Glasgow ahead of the world’s most significant climate summit, COP26, it will burn through up to 150 tons of fuel a day, leaving a trail of dangerous particulates in its wake – the same volume of pollutants as one million cars.
Meanwhile it will splutter out up to a million gallons of murky water generated from its sinks, showers and laundry hubs.
Upon its arrival in Glasgow, it will join another gas-guzzling luxury ship on the Clyde – MS Romantika – which last week docked at the King George V dock, near Braehead shopping centre, after its almost 2,000mile trip from Morocco.
The ships have been chartered by COP26 organisers to accommodate up to 5,800 conference staff amid a serious shortage of hotel rooms.
Yet serious questions have been raised about the massive vessels’ green credentials. For the diesel engines used in cruise liners belch out huge quantities of soot or particulate matter; oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which contribute to the production of smog and acid rain; and dangerous hydrocarbons.
According to independent analysts, a single large cruise ship will emit more than five tons of NOx emissions, and 450kg of soot or ultra-fine particulate matter a day.
Last night a spokesman for campaign group Open Seas Trust said: ‘This is an example of how the management of our seas, beyond the oil and gas sector, is a major blind-spot in tackling the climate crisis.
‘Our seas are huge stores of marine carbon and this fact is being totally overlooked by decision-makers.’
Friends of the Earth said cruise ships can generate up to 210,000 gallons of human sewage and one million gallons of so-called ‘greywater’, which is the waste water generated from laundry, sinks, showers and baths.
According to a report from the organisation, ‘cruise ships also generate large volumes of oily bilge water, sewage sludge, garbage and hazardous wastes’.
MS Romantika – which can hold up to 2,500 passengers – boasts spacious en-suite cabins plus seven bars and restaurants and two nightclubs.
There is also a supermarket, spa and beauty salon onboard the vessel.
It will be joined by the MS
Silja Europa, which can take around 3,300 passengers, in the coming days.
It comes as Glasgow is desperately short of beds for the influx of visitors, with only 15,000 hotel rooms for around 30,000 people who are expected to attend the summit.
Hotels are full for the two weeks of the conference, while the price of short-term flat rentals has rocketed as homeowners look to cash in on the event.
Now the ships, run by Tallink Grupp, will act as two floating hotels for COP26 workers.
A Tallink Grupp spokesman said: ‘Energy efficiency improvement is one of Tallink’s priorities. In the period 2009 to 2019, Tallink’s fleet has been able to reduce its total annual CO2 emissions by 33.3 per cent as a result of efficiency improvements and new technologies.
‘Between 2009 and 2019 the CO2 emission per passenger reduced by 44.5 per cent.’