MIAMI -- Royal Caribbean said it will become the first cruise
company to move from diesel to gas turbine engines, ordering the
units for up to six vessels for Royal Caribbean International and
Celebrity Cruises.
Royal Caribbean said the technology, developed and manufactured
by General Electric, reduces exhaust emissions by 80% to 98%.
Royal Caribbean made the announcement the same day that a
federal court in Miami threw out the company's claim that the U.S.
government does not have jurisdiction to prosecute a
criminal-pollution charge against it in a case here.
The Justice Department, however, is prosecuting a similar case
against Royal Caribbean in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Royal Caribbean said it will utilize gas and steam turbines on
the first two Millennium-class vessels for Celebrity, due in 2000
and 2001, and on the line's first Voyager-class vessel, due in
2001.
The company has options to build three more 85,000-ton ships in
Germany and France.
Noting the expected reduction in pollution from the new ships,
Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain said, "We have designed these
to be the most environmentally sensitive cruise ships in the
world."
Under the GE system, two gas turbines power electric motors that
move a ship through the water. At the same time, energy that would
be lost in the exhaust from the gas turbines is captured to produce
steam for turbines that meet the ship's electrical requirements,
such as for lighting.
The turbines were adopted from the same family of jet engines
that power the world's commercial aircraft.
According to William Reilly, the former Environmental Protection
Agency head who recently joined Royal Caribbean's board, the system
reduces emissions of nitrous oxide by 80% and sulfur oxide by 98%
when compared with emissions from typical diesel engines.
Royal Caribbean said other advantages of the system were much
lower levels of noise and vibration; greater reliability; reduced
maintenance, and compactness.
The system, developed in the 1970s, has been implemented on
hundreds of vessels operated by the U.S. Navy and by two dozen
other navies.
For more than a decade, GE had been marketing its turbine system
to the cruise industry without any success. Gas turbines use a more
expensive fuel than diesel, but according to GE, the turbine system
is not at an overall economic disadvantage.
Besides reductions in fuel consumption from high thermal
efficiency, the system's compactness offers major revenue
enhancements.
For example, GE said the arrangement Royal Caribbean ordered
will free space for up to 50 additional passenger cabins on each
ship in addition to providing more space for crew cabins and public
areas.