Carnival Corp urged to ditch heavy fuel oils on Arctic sailings

Wednesday, 30 Oct, 2018 0

Indigenous leaders have urged Carnival Corp to end the use of heavy fuel oils on sailings in the Arctic region.

Bristol Bay petitioner and Delbert Pungowijyi, president of native Village of Savoonga, on St Lawrence Island were among the group who delivered a petition at Carnival’s UK corporate office.

Heavy fuel oils produce more pollutants and sulphur in the air and the group is seeking to stop the use of the fuel when other alternatives are available.

"It’s a very dangerous fuel. It’s the thickest, dirtiest fuel," Wilson told the Juneau Empire.

Heavy fuel oils are banned from ships sailing in the Antarctic by the International Maritime Organization, and a ban has been proposed for the Arctic too.

Carnival ships carried a combined 11 million tons of the fuel in the Arctic region and operated eight of the 40 ships operating there during 2015, according to an International Council on Clean Transportation report.

Carnival said the petition was ‘well-intentioned but misguided.’

"We only have a limited number of sailings to this region, and we already treat the Arctic as a special protected zone where we will only sail our ships to the region with the use of generation Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems that purify the air and water," Carnival said.

"These systems have proven to be a better environmental solution than marine gas oil when it comes to protecting the environment."

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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.

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