Clean Ships, Clean Ports, Clean Oceans: Controlling Garbage and Plastic Wastes at Sea (1995)

Chapter: Passenger Cruise Ships and Their Itinerary Ports

Previous Chapter: Navy Surface Combatant Vessels and Their Home Ports
Suggested Citation: "Passenger Cruise Ships and Their Itinerary Ports." National Research Council. 1995. Clean Ships, Clean Ports, Clean Oceans: Controlling Garbage and Plastic Wastes at Sea. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4769.

should consider other alternatives, perhaps using the hazard evolution model (see Chapter 4) to identify ''upstream'' options.

Objective: Develop model Annex V implementation program

As the authority responsible for assuring U.S. compliance with Annex V, and as an international leader in IMO and in global environmental protection, the federal government should set an example through its own fleets for private and foreign vessels. It is especially important that the Navy not only satisfy the mandates of Annex V, but also, as the largest federal fleet, provide a model compliance program. As time passes, it is increasingly difficult to justify heavy fines against commercial ship operators for illegal garbage discharges, when similar actions carried out by the Navy are tolerated.

The Navy should make a top-level commitment to planning for and achieving full compliance. Priority should be placed on information exchange, both within the fleet and between the Navy and other maritime sectors. Successful technologies and strategies should be shared and deployed. To foster recycling and reduce volumes of garbage that must be discharged in port reception facilities, the Navy should establish comprehensive fleetwide recycling practices and explore marketing the metal and glass wastes it now collects and separates. State-of-the-art reception facilities should be provided in home ports, and commercial and foreign ports of call should be encouraged to provide such facilities as well. Foreign ports have economic motivations to comply in order to attract and retain naval business.

Passenger Cruise Ships and Their Itinerary Ports

Objective: Increase use of on-board garbage handling and treatment technologies

To reduce the amounts of garbage that must be stored on cruise ships for

Objectives for Cruise Ship Sector

  • Increase use of on-board garbage handling and treatment technologies

  • Assure comprehensive vessel garbage management system, including adequate port reception facilities

  • Assure that seagoing and management personnel are provided with appropriate Annex V information, education, and training

  • Exploit U.S. authority to improve compliance by foreign-flag vessels and by all vessels in foreign waters

Suggested Citation: "Passenger Cruise Ships and Their Itinerary Ports." National Research Council. 1995. Clean Ships, Clean Ports, Clean Oceans: Controlling Garbage and Plastic Wastes at Sea. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4769.

disposal in port, modern garbage handling and treatment technologies should be integrated into new construction. The growing popularity of cruises that emphasize ecological knowledge and environmental pursuits offers an opportunity to test innovations in waste management aboard cruise ships with willing populations.

Objective: Assure comprehensive vessel garbage management system, including adequate port reception facilities

All measures proposed to improve the garbage management system for cargo vessels also apply to the cruise ship sector, because many of the same problems plague both fleets. Cruise ships should be required to off-load both Annex V and APHIS garbage at U.S. port calls. States and port operators should help ensure that reception facilities in U.S. ports are adequate to handle cruise ship garbage.

In addition, cruise ships should be required to provide Annex V educational programs (perhaps through videos, such as the safety presentations shown on airlines) for passengers and crews as a condition of access to U.S. ports, and violators should be punished.

Objective: Assure that seagoing and management personnel are provided with appropriate Annex V information, education, and training

Due to the large volumes of garbage generated on cruise ships, the rapid growth of the industry, and inability to monitor such large populations effectively, educational efforts targeting this sector, particularly crews and passengers, need to be expanded. Vessel operators should be encouraged to reduce amounts of packaging brought on board. Crews need to be trained in proper garbage handling practices. Passengers must be persuaded to respect the environment. Preservation of the ocean environment should be promoted as a basis for preserving cruise itineraries in unique and fragile locations (the standard should be the same regardless of the itinerary).

Objective: Exploit U.S. authority to improve compliance by foreign-flag vessels and by all vessels in foreign waters

All measures proposed to improve compliance by foreign-flag cargo ships also apply to the cruise ship sector. The Coast Guard should continue to step up its enforcement activities targeting foreign vessels. The garbage log requirement should be extended to foreign-flag vessels, and violators should be punished.

In addition, U.S. authorities should encourage islands on cruise ship itineraries to assist in implementation of Annex V by providing adequate garbage disposal services, because these islands derive economic benefits from the cruise trade. Particularly important in this respect is the World Bank's search for a

Suggested Citation: "Passenger Cruise Ships and Their Itinerary Ports." National Research Council. 1995. Clean Ships, Clean Ports, Clean Oceans: Controlling Garbage and Plastic Wastes at Sea. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4769.
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Suggested Citation: "Passenger Cruise Ships and Their Itinerary Ports." National Research Council. 1995. Clean Ships, Clean Ports, Clean Oceans: Controlling Garbage and Plastic Wastes at Sea. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/4769.
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Next Chapter: Research Vessels and Their Ports of Call
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