Cruise ships consume 7,000 tons of fuel in Bergen harbour

Bergen harbour.Photo : Erik Johansen / NTB scanpix

During the season there are 300 cruise ship calls to Bergen. All in all they consume nearly 7,000 metric tons of fuel while docked.

The largest cruise ships burn up to 30 tons of fuel per day at berth, according to the newspaper Bergens Tidende. According to the environmental organisation Bellona this equals the emissions from 13,000 diesel cars.

Pollution from cruise ships come in addition to offshore and other vessels that use the harbour all year round.

The weather has a lot to say to which degree emissions affect the city’s population.

“On summer days with northerly or westerly winds simulations shows that emissions from ships in the port of Bergen will be transported towards inhabited areas close by”- explains researcher Tobias Wolf-Grosse by Nansen.

Communications manager Per Wiggo Richardsen, from The Norwegian Veritas GL, says that there is much to be done to reduce pollution from ships in the harbour.

“Catalysts can reduce the emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 80 percent. Ships that use liquefied natural gas as fuel, can achieve about a 90 percent reduction of NOx, 100 percent reduction of sulphides, and potentially 10 to 20 percent reduction of CO2”, he said adding that using onshore power would reduce emissions to zero.

Environment Commissioner Julie Anders Country writes in an email that the city council works closely with the Port Authority to electrify the harbour.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today