Norwegian cruise ship becomes more eco-friendly

Norwegian Cruise Line has completed retrofitting the Norwegian Jewel with state-of-the-art equipment that will significantly reduce the amount of air pollutants the ship emits.

The exhaust gas scrubber hybrid system, installed in conjunction with the cruise line’s Eco-Smart Cruising program, is capable of reducing the ship’s sulfur oxide gas (SOx) emissions by up to 99 percent and its particulate emission by up to 85 percent.

Norwegian Pearl cruise ship departing Seattle
Norwegian Pearl departing Seattle
“Norwegian is firmly dedicated to upholding the highest standards of excellence in environmental protection practices … ensur[ing] that we continuously protect the environment that our guests love to explore,” Robin Lindsay, Norwegian’s EVP of vessel operations, said in a statement.

The new lightweight in-line scrubbers are a hybrid technology developed by Yara Marine Technologies. Five scrubbers were installed - one per engine - covering the ship’s entire propulsion system.

A two year project, Norwegian Jewel’s retrofitting began in spring 2014 and required more than 100,000 man-hours among numerous partner organizations. While accomplishing the goal of becoming more environmentally friendly, the project is also noteworthy in that Norwegian is the first cruise line to retrofit a vessel while it was in service.

The Norwegian Jewel is the third ship to be outfitted with gas scrubber technology, joining the Norwegian Escape and Pride of America. More installations are underway and planned. Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Gem will complete their scrubber commissioning within the coming weeks, while Norwegian Jade and Norwegian Sun are scheduled for retrofitting in the first and second quarter of 2017, respectively.

As part of Eco-Smart Cruising, Norwegian’s Safety and Environmental Protection Policy establishes several objectives relating to the environment. Those include reducing the impact of its operations on the environment, disposing of garbage and waste materials in accordance with national and international rules and regulations, recycling and re-using materials, and establishing specific objectives and targets for continual improvement of environmental management programs, the company said.

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Photo by Carl Dombek
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