Cruisers may be facing longer sea days and fewer stops at ports under a new proposal for the first speed limits for passenger ships.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the UN’s shipping based regulator will debate a proposal, which is being presented by France, next month to enforce speed limits on ships to help the industry meet an international target of halving its greenhouse emissions by 2050.
The 2008 financial crisis forced cargo ships to slow down to save money on fuel, but in recent years, the larger container ships have begun to increase speed. The new proposed limit will restrict them to their present average of about 16knots. Previously they travelled at up to 24 knots.
But the biggest impact would be on the cruise industry, where ships average speeds of about 15 knots and a top speed of 22 knots.
In some countries, cruise ships already have an enforced speed limit – in Canada, it’s to protect whales from ships strikes and in the Norwegian fjords to reduce pollution.
The French proposal, which would introduce the first limits in international waters, says that “speed reduction leads to a significant emissions reduction and it can be implemented quickly: it is the only measure that requires little or no technical adaptation of the ships”.
A spokesperson from Carnival Corporation in the United Kingdom said it would be following the debate closely. The spokeswoman said it already aimed to achieve the “optimum speed between one port and another for maximum guest comfort and efficiency of fuel and also making the best use of the time in port for guest experience”. It declined to say how much fuel it used per passenger.
A CLIA spokesperson said the association would be monitoring the debate closely.
Why bother going cruising …who wants to spend “more” time at sea…as it is I go stir crazy after a couple of days without stopping off somewhere!
If you will be going to less ports, why not in giving something back to the passenger to stay longer in the one port, these one night stays never give you enough time to explore a major city. It would save on fuel, but i know what they will say more port costs and the city will say more tourist numbers and ships in at the same time, but you can’t have everything, they have to compromise.
If passengers weren’t on ships they would be driving around at home in their thirsty cars and using their inefficient air conditioning and all other associated power consuming equipment in their homes.
The reason we don’t sea cruise is because there are too many days at sea already, we like river cruises where we can get off each day.
I agree with Harry Smith , ships of today are just ugly , look more like animal carriers . Where are the graceful ships of yesterday that had a maximum of about 1200 passengers
I think a better solution would be to stop building these huge monstrous cities at sea, called ships. They must surely be using much more fuel to not only transport the ships between ports, but also running the power systems, air conditioning and all other associated power consuming equipment onboard.