Cruise Ship Pollution Facts: Here's All You Need To Know

As magnificent and grand as they look, cruise ships create environmental crises that are in tune with their gigantic size, emitting as many pollutants as a million running cars would.

Small cruise ships set sail on our waters and dirty our coasts by dumping vast amounts of sewage and trash into our oceans. Not only does the rubbish disposed of by these ships accumulate on our beaches and pollute them, but they also play a major role in destroying our coral reefs and ruining our valuable marine biodiversity.

The larger cruise ships that are capable of providing one-week voyages to over 7,000 guests and crew are known to generate 210,000 gal (954,678.9 l) of human waste and 1 million gal (4,546,090 l) of gray water.

Large amounts of oily bilge water, sewage sludge, rubbish, and hazardous waste are also produced by such supersized cruise ships.

That's not all. One large cruise ship emits about 5.5 US ton (5 metric ton) of NOx gas and 992 lb (450 kg) of ultra-fine particles on a regular basis.

In a single day, it emits the same amount of sulfur dioxide as 3.6 million cars.

These luxury cruise liners, which take passengers through some of the world's most extraordinary landscapes to help them catch a glimpse of rare sightings of marine life, also emit a variety of pollutants into the air, which not only cause major public health issues but also actively contribute to global warming.

If you like this article then check our other articles on diesel pollution facts and coal pollution facts and share these amazing facts with everyone.

Cruise Ship Pollution Meaning And Example

The pollution generated by the cruise ship industry by directly tossing out trash, gasoline, chemicals, and excrement into the water is referred to as cruise ship pollution. Air pollutants in the form of engine fumes produced by cruise lines also aid in the pollution process.

Over 46,000 commercial vessels, including tankers, bulk carriers, container ships, barges, and passenger ships, sail the world's seas and other waters, transporting freight and passengers for business, transportation, and recreation.

Cruise ships have been popularly dubbed 'floating cities' because they can create a living environment that's almost similar to that of a small city.

But as environmentalists have pointed out, they are just as polluting as they are enjoyable, if not more so. A vacation on a luxury cruise liner is probably a dream come true for many, but environmental groups state that the cruise industry has absolutely devastating effects on our environment and natural resources.

When on a cruise, a passenger's carbon footprint triples, and the gases emitted from these cruise lines can cause major health problems.

Even with the permissive legislation in place, the cruise liner industry has a poor track record of adhering to the existing restrictions, which in all honesty are already weak and contradictory.

Several cruise lines and cruise companies were implicated in proven occurrences of unlawful oil, rubbish, and waste dumps into US waters between 1993 and 1998. The Royal Caribbean pleaded guilty to dumping harmful chemicals in court in 2001, admitting it had constructed special piping to avoid pollution control equipment.

They were fined $33.5 million in order to settle dumping accusations from 1994-1998.

Norwegian Cruise Lines agreed to pay a $1 million fine and $500,000 to environmental groups in Florida in July 2002 for misrepresenting Coast Guard documents involving the discharge of oily waste and chemical waste into the ocean.

Carnival Corporation, one of the largest operators of luxury cruise lines, constantly finds itself in tricky waters with environmental groups because of its unethical practices. A former Carnival Cruise Lines executive filed a whistle-blower complaint in September 2002, citing a slew of environmental infractions, including harmful chemical dumping.

In 2017, the corporation's ships emitted more sulfur dioxide near and around Europe's coasts than all of Europe's cars combined and multiplied by 10.

Cruise Ship Pollution Effect On Environment

Shipping has a variety of environmental effects, including air pollution, water pollution, acoustic pollution, and oil pollution. In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) predicts that shipping accounted for 2.2% of worldwide human-made emissions in 2012 and that they will climb from 50% to 250% by 2050, that is if nothing is done about it.

Poor air quality is currently one of the most serious worldwide health threats, with the World Health Organization estimating that 4.2 million people die each year as a result of air pollution.

The engine of cruise ships emits hazardous gases in the same way that exhaust tanks in automobiles do.

The cruise ship industry, although much smaller in comparison to the automobile industry, is far more responsible for the world's declining air quality.

The number of gases generated from vehicle emissions on the road and cruise ship emissions on the sea differs dramatically, resulting in massive pollution in maritime areas.

Recent research has also discovered that the air on cruise ships' aft decks, namely particulate matter pollution, is as filthy as the air in the world's most polluted cities, such as Beijing.

It was discovered that the air on the upper deck of a cruise ship named Oceana consisted of 84,000 ultra-fine particulates per cubic centimeter which is as bad as Delhi and Shanghai, cities that are suffering from major environmental crises due to their terrible air quality.

Ambient air pollution, of which cruise ship pollution accounts for a substantial percentage, cuts the typical European's life expectancy by two years.

Cruise ships are also known for burning diesel fuel in large amounts within walking distance of pedestrianized harbors, which releases harmful levels of nitrogen oxide into the air which has been related to lung cancer.

It also creates sulfur, which when combined with water and air produces sulfuric acid, causing acid rain.

The noise made by passing ships has a negative impact on the environment because it disrupts marine life. Unlike other ships, cruise liners contribute significantly to marine noise pollution.

In addition to the noise pollution from the ship's machinery, cruise ships generate additional noise as a result of onboard entertainment activities. These noises irritate marine species and mammals, such as killer whales and dolphins, whose sensitive hearing is injured and weakened, resulting in their untimely deaths and a loss to the delicate ecosystem.

Sources Of Cruise Ship Pollution

Sewage, oily bilge water, solid waste, gray water, ballast water, and hazardous waste are among the waste streams generated by cruise ships that are regularly discharged into the marine environment.

Sewage pollution occurs when the waste that is flushed down the toilet of a cruise ship passes through a sewage treatment plant and is ultimately dumped into the ocean.

This is a major cause of marine pollution, as the sewage is rich in bacteria and algae, which has an adverse effect on not only the oceanic life-forms but the entire marine ecosystem.

During a voyage, cruise ships also discharge tons of waste generated, particularly from sinks, laundries, showers, and galleys located outside the vessel.

This collection of water contains not only toxic compounds but also large concentrations of metals and minerals that have great potential to affect the marine environment when dumped into oceanic waters. Solid waste disposal is also a major source of cruise ship pollution.

Cruise ships emit various kinds of solid waste, such as paper, tin cans, plastic, cardboard, and aluminum.

These materials often wind up as unwanted trash on the ocean’s surface, posing significant harm to marine plants and animals. Even when you think you're disposing of such waste securely, cruise ships are simply incinerating the rubbish and dumping the ash straight into the ocean instead of actually recycling it.

As cruise ships are humongous in size, they consume large amounts of heavy fuel oil, which is one of the dirtiest and most polluting fossil fuels on the market.

Containing hazardous levels of sulfur, heavy metals, and contaminants, the use of bilge oil or heavy fuel oil causes serious marine pollution when mixed with oceanic waters, and as such, is considered to be the leading cause of its rising levels.

Another major source of cruise ship pollution is ballast water. In order to keep the ship stable during the sail, cruise ships utilize and discharge a lot of ballast water.

Ballast water discharge contains bacteria and microorganisms along with vegetation and other sea animals, and when they are dumped, the local species are displaced, thus harming marine life and causing marine pollution.

Effect Of Cruise Ship Pollution On Marine Ecology

The dumping of solid waste, gray water, bilge oil, ballast water, sewage, and chemicals affects natural resources and the marine ecosystem irreparably. Not only does cruise ship pollution dirty our oceans and beaches, but it also destroys coral reefs and harms aquatic animals.

Cruise ships pose a major threat to coral reefs and the species that live on them. The arrival and anchoring of cruise ships on undisturbed sections of coral reefs around the world has resulted in various occurrences involving the destruction of these natural beauties.

These mishaps also have an impact on the coral reefs' rich ecological integrity and biodiversity.

In 2017, the British cruise ship MS Caledonian collided with Indonesia's precious coral reefs, shattering 17,222 sq ft (1599.9 sq m) of reef and incurring permanent damage worth more than $19 million.

Whales and dolphins are also victims of the increased traffic of cruise ships, in addition to the pollution, they generate in the air and sea. Fin whales, killer whales, and humpback whales, in particular, have been injured, and in some cases, killed, by these large ships.

Taking into account the dangers and damage to the marine environment, countries all over the world have passed resolutions to protect the oceanic ecosystem. Even cruise shipping giants are slowly but progressively realizing the importance and necessity of conserving the marine ecosystem.

For the time being, a better cruise ship experience with essential caution and care for marine life remains a goal to be achieved.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly factsfor everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for cruise ship pollution facts, then why not take a look at 57 note-worthy America facts that everyone should know, or why do we age? what causes aging? to learn the ultimate human body facts.