Cruise News - Maritime News

New legislation was released for review (here) aiming to reduce emissions and discharges in the fjords. Namely, the Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) proposed even stricter regulations to ensure a better environmental footprint in the area, by cutting emissions.

The new legislation for reduced emissions and discharges regard the Nærøyfjord, Aurlandsfjord, Geirangerfjord, Sunnylvsfjord and Tafjord. The proposal includes stricter sulphur requirements for the entire area, stricter requirements for NOx emissions, prohibitions against the discharge of sewage, regulations on the use of scrubbers and requirement for an environmental instruction.

Minister of Climate and Environment, Ola Elvestuen, stated: "The Government wishes to reduce the emissions and discharges from cruise ships. Stricter requirements for ships in the world heritage fjords would be a step in the right direction"

“Experience shows that today’s cleaning systems emit visible smoke emissions, and some systems also generate discharges to sea. Even if the visible smoke is partly water vapor, it has a negative impact on people’s experiences of our world heritage fjords,” says Bjørn Pedersen, Head of Department of Legislation and International Relations at the NMA. 

The NMA is also proposing a prohibition against incineration of waste on board ships in the world heritage fjords, which will contribute to reducing the visible smoke emissions.

“We have a particular responsibility for taking care of the fjords inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List,” says Pedersen. The new proposal also lays down the possibility of exemption from the Tier I NOx requirements to be met by 2020 for ships that can document that they will satisfy the strictest NOx requirements (Tier III) by 2022, i.e. three years before the deadline. 

More at Sjøfartsdirektoratet: www.sdir.no/