The cruise major unveiled scrubber installations on board its ships back in 2013, when the technology was in its early days of development, helping to further evolve a solution to suit confined spaces on ships.

Carnival Corporation has opted for open-loop systems that use seawater spray to strip sulphur from the engine exhaust and transform it to sulphates until the seawater returns to the ocean.

“The seawater is monitored by pH, PAH and turbidity sensors through this process to ensure that it meets or exceeds the IMO required standards before returning to the ocean. A further filtration process while in port ensures a seawater quality meeting other applicable environmental standards for operations."

The company claims that comprehensive independent research has shown that scrubbers outperform low-sulphur fuel alternatives such as marine gas oil (MGO) in terms of overall cleaner air pollution and have no adverse environmental effects on oceans and seas.

Apart from scrubbers, Carnival is a strong supporter of LNG as a fuel, having already added two LNG-powered ships to its fleet, Costa Smeralda and AIDAnova.

The company has an additional nine next generation cruise ships on order, which will also be operated by LNG, both in port and open sea, with deliveries scheduled between 2020 and 2025.

Maritime Business World