Our guidelines

Upholding national and international regulations on the protection of the maritime environment is a matter of course for us. We therefore base our activities on the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) and largely on the guidelines set out by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations.
As part of our commitment to sustainability, we actively work hard to exceed the standards set by law and set ourselves new goals every year. Even before the introduction of Sulfur Emission Control Areas (SECAs) in the North and Baltic Seas, we had already significantly reduced our ships’ sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions. From 2012, our ships will sail through North America’s SECAs using fuel with a sulfur content of just 1 %. The IMO’s phased plan provides for a fuel sulfur content of just 0.1 % to be permitted from January 1, 2015 AIDA fully supports this plan. In practice this means that from 2015 onwards, we will increase the proportion of marine diesel used to 40 % of total consumption.

The most important international regulation for us is the IMO’s MARPOL Convention. It contains guidelines for ocean protection and also defines special areas such as the North Sea and the Baltic Sea for which special emissions regulations apply. In accordance with MARPOL regulations, there is a ban on the disposal of untreated waste in the Baltic Sea within twelve nautical miles of the coast. We go one step further and base our practices on our own Zero Discharge Policy. What does this mean? It means that no untreated waste water is discharged in the ocean by AIDA ships.
We also aim to set standards with regard to treated waste water. The Helsinki Commission on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, governed by HELCOM, plans strict limit values for waste water in the Baltic Sea area. In order to support the proposals on new phosphorus and nitrogen threshold values, our parent company Carnival Corporation & plc has voluntarily undertaken to use disposal solutions ashore. In 2011, we used all available shoreside capacities to dispose of waste water. In parallel to this, we have launched a project to achieve the new threshold values, long before they become mandatory under law.

The Baltic Sea is home to diverse fish, bird and plant species. We want to protect and preserve these valuable habitats – and we are involved in various projects to that end. For example, we support the European Union’s Baltic Sea Region Strategy. This initiative promotes the environmentally sustainable development of the Baltic Sea region, but also aims to unleash its economic potential. To do this, it relies on the cooperation of EU member states, regions, organizations and business partners. We support the Baltic Sea Region Strategy action plan in the best way that we can: By further developing the cruise industry. The project that we are leading is concerned with sustainable shoreside excursions. What does this mean? In concrete terms, this means that we are developing criteria and guidelines to ensure that shoreside excursions for cruise passengers are not only fun, but also preserve our natural environment.
We pay particular attention to Baltic Sea harbor porpoises, which are threatened with extinction. Experts estimate that they now number fewer than 600. We therefore donate to a protection project organized by the German Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund. The researchers have anchored harbor porpoise detectors at various points in the Baltic Sea. The sensors record the time and duration of location signals made by these marine mammals, allowing their presence and movements to be tracked. The findings from this research project contribute to the improved protection of the harbor porpoises’ habitat.