A capacity of about 7,600 guests and emits a lot of carbon dioxide into the climate.
"Icon of the Seas"/Royal Caribbean
The ship "Icon of the Seas" (Icon Of The Seas is) is the new "white elephant" of the Royal Caribbean shipping company that cost two billion dollars, according to the New York Times and the jalopnik website, which covers the shipping, aviation and automobile industry.
The ship, which boasts 20 decks and a capacity of about 7,600 guests (plus 2,350 crew members) and weighs 250,000 tons, is the largest cruise ship in the world.
She set sail for the first time on Tuesday, January 27, and will make seven-night hops around the Caribbean until April this year.
The ship's launch ceremony took place last week on Tuesday, when Leo Messi arrived as a presenter for the festive event among other world celebrities.
Although in Israel almost all the shipping companies have postponed their arrival to 2025 (due to the war in Gaza), globally, on the other hand, the demand for cruises is at an all-time high, and tickets for the maiden voyage of the Icon are already sold out in October 2022. This is despite the fact that carbon emissions per passenger in the cruise industry have more than doubled from the airlines.
According to the International Association of Cruise Lines, the number of passengers is expected to reach 36 million in 2024 - an increase of about 20 percent from the pre-Corona records set in 2019. Carbon emissions related to cruising fell to almost zero during the suspension of cruises related to the Corona epidemic, but by August 2021 the industry Not only did it return to pre-pandemic carbon emissions, but it even surpassed these figures.
According to the American non-profit Climate Trace, which monitors carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, Icon of the Seas has reached new records, almost six percent higher in cruise emissions than before 2020.
Icon has two huge liquefied natural gas that power the ship's six engines/Royal Carribean
3 more ships of the "Icon" type are on the way
While many cruise lines have publicly committed to net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, there doesn't seem to be much effort today to reach that goal.
Royal Caribbean has committed to building at least three more Icon-class ships for its fleet in the near future, each weighing more than 200,000 tons and powered by liquefied natural gas.
Icon has two huge 307-ton LNG (liquefied natural gas) tanks that power their six 14-cylinder 4-stroke marine engines built by the Finnish engine company Wärtsilä, producing a combined 121,400 horsepower.
All that power will bring the Icon to its top speed of 40 km/h. These engines are said to be the most fuel-efficient engines on the market, and Wärtsilä boasts "low exhaust gas emissions," though it won't provide consumption numbers.
Liquid natural gas is considered a Hailed by the cruise industry as one of the greenest fuels on the planet, and compared to the fuel oil used to generate electricity that shipping companies have been burning for decades, liquefied natural gas may be a step in the right direction. Liquefied natural gas significantly reduces nitrogen dioxide and sulfur emissions, and many argue that the impact is A 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Unfortunately for the world, natural gas-powered cruise ships sometimes release methane gas directly into the atmosphere, which is a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. A 2023 investigation concluded that ships switching to liquefied natural gas are harming In the climate. If so, this does not bode well, as Royal Caribbean has a history of dumping chemicals at sea, and was even given a "failing" (F) grade for its fleet by the green non-profit organization Friends Of The Earth.
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An average cruise ship emits more soot per day than a million cars/Royal Carribean
Pollute, but not in my backyard
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the average cruise ship emits more soot per day than a million cars.
In fact, such ships make up only one percent of the world's largest ships, but make up more than six percent of the world's black carbon (soot) emissions.
Black carbon is not good anywhere, but it is particularly harmful in the Arctic, where it settles on snow and ice, accelerating the rate of glacier melt.
People who love to sail enjoy the ability to leave their cars behind and walk from their room on board the ship to several quality restaurants, a water park, shopping experience and entertainment venues.
They pay thousands of dollars and emit unknown tons of carbon dioxide, to enjoy a vacation far from their home, the main thing is that the pollution will not be in their home, what is known in English - NIMBY (acronym for Not In My Back Yard - "not in my back yard").
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