Cruise ships are a threat for the environment, investigation says

An undercover investigation by the United Kingdom’s Channel 4 television station has revealed the shocking levels of pollution found on board some cruise ships. The investigators were sent onto P&O Cruises’ 250-metre-long Oceana vessel, which can carry more than 2,000 passengers. The air on the upper deck of the cruise ship, downwind from the boat’s funnels, had 84,000 ultra-fine particulates per cubic centimetre. The number increased to 226,000 next to the funnels. Using the same device to record the air quality, in Piccadilly Circus was found that the numbers were just 38,400 per cubic centimetre. It is estimated that 25.3 million passengers worldwide will travel on cruise ships in 2017, up from just 15.8 million a decade ago, according to data from the Cruise Lines International Association. If shipping were an actual country then it would be the globe’s seventh biggest emitter.