Posted
on 16 July 2009 - Only three of more than
20 cruise ship ports around the Baltic –
Helsinki, Stockholm, and Visby – have adequate
facilities to handle waste from cruise ships
when they dock.
WWF proposal 197 KB pdf WWF draft letter
to Baltic Sea ports 46 KB doc Stockholm,
Sweden – Large amounts of sewage from cruise
ships likely are being dumped into the Baltic
Sea because major ports in the region have
failed to upgrade their facilities to dispose
of the waste.
Only three of more than
20 cruise ship ports around the Baltic –
Helsinki, Stockholm, and Visby – have adequate
facilities to handle waste from cruise ships
when they dock, even though they bring in
millions of euros from tourism.
In a letter sent today,
the WWF Baltic Ecoregion Action Programme
urges those ports to take action and upgrade
their facilities. The 12 most visited cruise
ports in the Baltic region are: Gdynia,
Gothenburg, Helsinki, Klaipeda, Kiel, Copenhagen,
Riga, Rostock, Stockholm, Saint Petersburg,
Tallinn and Visby.
“We find it unfair that
so many ports are profiting from cruise
line tourism but are not prepared to take
care of their waste,” said Pauli Merriman,
Director of the WWF Baltic Ecoregion Programme.
“We believe that some of these profits should
be used to make needed upgrades to their
facilities as it should be the responsibility
of any country or city that wants to receive
these ships, to offer adequate sewage reception
facilities“,
WWF initially contacted
ferry lines and cruise ship companies sailing
in the Baltic Sea two years ago, asking
for a voluntary ban on waste water discharge.
That same year, most of the ferry lines
responded positively.
In May, many cruise
lines, through their umbrella organization,
the European Cruise Council (ECC), made
a voluntary commitment to stop dumping their
waste water in the Baltic Sea “when certain
conditions are met”. These conditions included
“adequate port reception facilities which
operate under a ‘no special fee’ agreement”.
“We are happy that the
cruise lines have made this commitment and
we believe it is now up to the ports to
do their part,” said Anita Mäkinen,
Head of Marine Program at WWF Finland. “It’s
a scandal if we let this pollution continue.”
WWF also is working
within the International Maritime Organization
(IMO) to push for stronger regulations,
which currently allow the discharge of ship
waste to international waters. In a paper
submitted this week to the IMO Marine Environmental
Protection Committee, WWF urges the IMO
to strengthen its regulations regarding
the discharge of ship waste in eutrophied
semi-closed or closed waters, such as the
Baltic.
The Baltic Sea will
receive more than 350 cruise ship visits
with more than 2,100 port calls this year
and the industry is growing by an estimated
13 percent per year.
The waste-water produced
in these vessels is estimated to contain
74 tons of nitrogen and 18 tons of phosphorus,
substances that add to eutrophication. In
addition to excess nutrients, the waste
water also contains bacteria, viruses and
other pathogens, as well as heavy metals.
