Consider Cruise Ships
Dr Anjani Ganase asks us to reflect on
what is gained or lost when cruise ships come ashore to our islands.
Do
cruise ships add or take away from the Caribbean?
The cruise ship industry has
boomed in the Caribbean over the last fifty years, transporting 500,000
passengers annually in the 1970s to over 20 million today. The increase in
passengers corresponds to investments in engineering for bigger ships with
better features and services. Over the years, cruise ships have increased in
size at a rate of 90 feet every five years with the largest cruise ships today carrying
over 6000 passengers. Cruise ships come
with cinemas, sky diving simulators, rock climbing walls, wave riders and biking
facilities along with the 24-hour all you can eat buffets on top of dining
halls, bars and restaurants. It is more about the journey than the
destinations!
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| One of the smaller cruise ships off Charlotteville (photo courtesy Pat Ganase) |
The majority of visitors come
from the USA and Europe, and the most popular destinations are the Bahamas,
Mexico and St Maarten. There is no doubt that cruise liners turn over huge revenues
with an average of 3.5 hours per visit to an island. Such short exposures
hardly give any impression of an island before moving on to another. These momentary influxes of visitors to any
island results in a lower spend compared to the visitor that flies in for
a couple days. At some destinations, cruise ships avoid paying docking charges
as governments give incentives to cruise liners to visit, but such enticements
are not rewarding, especially as many passengers may not disembark.
What
are some other costs of cruise ships?
With up to 6000 passengers enjoying
luxury entertainment, it is no surprise that cruise ships produce an incredible
amount of waste. In one week, a cruise
ship carrying 3000 persons produces about 210,000 gallons of sewage and five times
that amount of grey water (all wastewater except from toilets). About 130 gallons of hazardous waste and 250
gallons of solid waste per ship, plus mechanical wastewater and oils are also
produced from a week-long excursion. Scaling up the amount of waste to the
total number of passengers for the Caribbean region, this equates to over a
billion gallons of sewage and grey water that need to be emptied. Cruise ships
also mostly run on diesel and therefore are major air polluters releasing large
amounts of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide into the
atmosphere.
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships,
also known as MARPOL, was developed by the International Maritime Organization and
consists of six main parts to reduce oil pollution, noxious liquids, sewage,
garbage, harmful substances and air pollution. While cruise ships represent a
small portion of the shipping world, the large capacity for passengers and services generates a lot more waste relative
to their size. The MARPOL regulations prohibit the dumping of sewage near any
land, and most ships are permitted to dispose of treated waste within three nautical
miles, while untreated waste is permitted 12 nautical miles from land. All
dumping of plastics into the ocean is prohibited, while food items are
macerated and discharged. Plastics and other waste can be recycled or
incinerated and the ash is dumped at sea.
Who regulates the cruise ships?
Unfortunately, while there are
improvements in the sewage treatment and some transparency in the process,
cruise ships still have a long history of environmental violations and limited
accountability. In Caribbean waters, there still needs to be more
accountability on the high seas and within the jurisdiction of island nations. Even though many countries globally have
signed on to the MARPOL convention, few countries - especially in the Caribbean
- have implemented the necessary legislation to enforce the MARPOL rules,
making it extremely difficult to hold accountability.
Some
destinations including Haiti, Cuba, Dominica, Costa Rica, Grenada, USA and
Mexico have not signed on to all sections of the MARPOL convention; and none
are signed on for the regulation of sewage treatment. While most of the cruise
ships have sewage treatment systems there is less certainty on the proper
functioning of the systems; and local authorities in destinations have little
time for inspections. In addition, where many cruise ships have functional
sewage treatment facilities, the treatment of the larger volume of grey water is
less standard when it comes to disposal. While grey water does not have to be
treated in the same manner as sewage, it does contain pollutants and coliform
that is harmful for the marine environment. Although many cruise companies are
American and European, most of the ships are registered in other nations, such
as Bahamas, Panama and Bermuda, whose safety and environmental codes may not be
as regimented.
While
there is no doubt that the business of cruise ships continues to improve their
standards, the long-term issue with the current MARPOL convention is the lack
of detail with regard to the quality of the waste and garbage treatment and rules
for monitoring. We still have the notion that the ocean is endless and can handle
all the waste we dump into it. We know that this is not the case: the oceans
now feature giant garbage patches and we see evidence of the effects of immense
carbon dioxide emissions. Large scale dumping from cruise ships cannot be
allowed to continue.
Why
do all islands welcome cruise ships?
Cruise ships put tremendous
pressure on islands to facilitate them.
Islands are constantly fearful of being excluded from itineraries; and there
are more and more cases where islands are sacrificing bits and pieces of their
paradise to accommodate these massive floating hotels. The Caribbean region has
always been the number one destination for visitors from USA and Europe. Why do
we feel that we have to make this compromise? They come for the views. They
need to respect the culture and our island ecology, which we need to protect
from these incursions of waste. Island nations need to establish and uphold the
strictest environmental rules for those that visit us. We must encourage
visitors to understand that island vistas are tied to cultures that should be
appreciated. There should also be collaboration among island nations, rather
than competition to highlight that we are not the same; that we have unique
features. We should encourage the
formation of partnerships against external pressures, and work together to
enhance visitor experiences.
Let us invest in tourism
infrastructure that appreciates the uniqueness of our nature and culture rather
than competing with other islands. One of the first steps is making inter-island
travel more affordable to increase connectivity between islands and to develop
additional forms of tourism travel. The ocean around is intrinsic to our
island-ness; it’s time we took charge of what makes us islands.
References:
Copeland,
Claudia. Cruise ship pollution: Background, laws and regulations, and
key issues. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2008.
Florida
Caribbean Cruise Association. "Economic contribution of cruise tourism to
the destination economies." Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (2012).
Lester,
Jo‐Anne, and Clare Weeden. "Stakeholders, the natural environment and the
future of Caribbean cruise tourism." International Journal of
Tourism Research 6.1 (2004): 39-50.
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