Carnival Corporation announced on Thursday that the cruise ship company would install equipment costing $180 million to reduce air pollution over the next three years from 32 diesel-powered ships, according to USA Today.
The company, which is the largest cruise company in the world, reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Coast Guard that approved the technology already being used in cars and at power plants.
The new equipment will help reduce sulfur dioxide from exhaust and it has filters that will also trap soot. The ships will also plug into the electrical grid in ports, rather than standing idle with the diesel-powered engines.
"This is a significant accomplishment as well as an important milestone for our company," Arnold Donald, the CEO of Carnival, said to USA Today.
Carnival also expects to beat the international standards in emission control areas along the U.S., Canadian and Caribbean coasts after the equipment has been installed.
The International Maritime Organization, with the intention of preventing tens of thousands of premature deaths as well as relieving respiratory symptoms for almost five million people, placed a cap on emissions.
The cruise ships intended to receive the new equipment are from Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Cunard. The installation is scheduled for nine ships next year, 16 ships in 2015 and seven more ships in the first half of 2016.
Carnival Cruises currently has 102 ships and will consider adding equipment to them after the initial 32 ships are completed.
The Coast Guard Captains J.C. Burton and Christopher Grundler, the director of transportation and air quality for the EPA, in a letter to confirm the agreement, that they must still address the details of monitoring and recordkeeping for the improvements to the ships.
With the recent problems Carnival has faced, the pollution reduction may help to improve their public image.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
