WASHINGTON (AP) — The world's largest cruise ship company will adopt technology from power plants and automobiles to reduce air pollution from the massive diesel engines powering its ships.
In a tentative agreement reached Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency, Carnival Corp. will deploy scrubbers to reduce sulfur dioxide and filters to trap soot on as many as 32 ships over the next three years. At port, ships will plug into the electrical grid, rather than idle, to reduce pollution.
Emissions from ocean-going vessels had largely been unregulated and contributed to 30 major U.S. ports violating air pollution standards. In 2010, the International Maritime Organization, at the EPA's request, created buffer zones along U.S. coasts requiring foreign-flagged ships to reduce pollution.
Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise lines have already agreed to reduce emissions.
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