New York:

The world’s largest cruise ship is set to make its maiden voyage on Saturday, but environmental groups worry that the ship running on liquefied natural gas – and other giant cruise liners that follow – will leak harmful methane into the atmosphere.

Taking advantage of the growing popularity of cruises, Royal Caribbean International’s Icon of the Seas departs from Miami with capacity for 8,000 passengers on deck 20.

The ship is designed to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which burns more cleanly than conventional marine fuels but poses greater risks for methane emissions. Environmental groups say methane leaks from ship engines are an unacceptable risk to the climate because of its short-term harmful effects.

“This is a step in the wrong direction,” said Brian Comer, director of the marine program at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), an environmental policy think tank.

“We estimate that using LNG as a marine fuel results in 120% higher life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions than marine gas oil,” he said.

In terms of warming impacts, methane is 80 times worse than carbon dioxide over 20 years, making it critical to cut emissions to control global temperature rise.

According to industry experts, cruise ships like Icon of the Seas use low-pressure, dual-fuel engines that leak methane into the atmosphere during the combustion process, a phenomenon known as “methane slip.” Two other engines are used on bulk carriers or container ships that emit less methane but they are too long to fit on a cruise ship.

Royal Caribbean says its new ship is 24% more efficient in terms of carbon emissions than global shipping regulator the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires.

Steve Esau, chief operating officer of C-LNG, an industry advocacy organization, said LNG emits fewer greenhouse gases than the very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) that powers most of the global shipping fleet.

Cruise engines convert natural gas into electricity in a cylinder, where “it is important to ensure that all the natural gas is converted into energy,” said Juha Kitola, director of R&D and engineering at Wärtsilä, which builds the cruise ships. Engines have been developed.

What is not converted can escape into the atmosphere during the combustion process, he said, adding that Wärtsilä’s natural gas engine technology emits 90% less methane than 20 to 30 years ago.

Cruise ship engines have an average methane slip of 6.4%, according to 2024 research funded by ICCT and other partners. IMO assumes methane slip at 3.5%.

“Methane is coming under greater scrutiny,” said Anna Barford, Canada shipping campaigner at Stand Earth, a non-profit organization that called on the IMO last summer to address methane emissions in its efforts to cut greenhouse gases. also includes.

Of the 54 ships on order from January 2024 to December 2028, 63% are expected to be powered by LNG, according to the Cruise Line International Association. Currently, about 6% of the 300 cruise ships sailing are fueled by LNG.

New cruise ships are being designed to run on alternatives such as conventional marine gas oil, LNG, or bio-LNG at only a fraction of U.S. fuel consumption.

Nick Rose, the company’s vice president of environmental, social and governance, said Royal Caribbean will use a variety of fuels as the market evolves.

“LNG is a part of our real strategy,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)