London Cruise Facility Angers Locals

The Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Mayor Boris Johnson have approved a cruise ship terminal in Greenwich, England. It is expected that about 60 cruise ships will call at the London City Cruise port beginning in 2017.

The terminal will accommodate medium-sized cruise ships up to 820 feet long. The terminal area will have restaurants and bars and is expected to create about 500 new jobs. Contractors are also building around 480 new homes as well.

Environmentalists are opposed to the development of the cruise facilities saying the ships will create more pollution and release nitrogen dioxide into the atmosphere. The Greenwich Society claims a ships onboard generators can burn up to 700 liters of diesel fuel hourly and says that is equivalent to 400 idling commercial trucks.

The Society says that a potential solution would be to have the terminal use a cold ironing program or provide onshore power. But, at this time, the terminal does not plan to provide onshore power sources.

Mayor Johnson says his office is aware of potential negative impacts and has secured over $600 thousand (£400 thousand) towards environmental monitoring. Also, the cruise ships operating at the port must comply with the IMO emissions requirements, which were implemented January 1, 2015.

On January 1, EU Member States issued a directive stating that all ships in the Baltic, North Sea and English Channel use fuels with a sulphur content of more than 0.10%. Fuels with high sulphur content are still permissible if the ship is equipped with the appropriate exhaust cleaning systems.