Amics de la Terra (Friends of the Earth) have expressed their concern and outrage at a fuel spillage from the cruise ship Marella Dream when it was docked in Palma on Tuesday. The environmentalists are demanding that the authorities adopt measures to ensure that this sort of incident doesn't happen again.
The group is also concerned by the "disproportionate" flow of cruise ships into Balearic ports and by an absence of control of factors such as the emission of particles. It wants monitoring of all environmental aspects of the "incessant" arrival of cruise ships, such as rubbish disposal, water consumption and toxic waste. The authorities, and especially the public, don't know about the potential risks from a lack of adequate maintenance. There needs, therefore, to be greater transparency and information on these issues.
The spillage was classified as having been mild, but it needed the attention of the ports authority, port police, the 112 emergency service, and the maritime rescue service. Booms were placed at the stern of the ship, and the fuel was confined to this area. Work then started to remove it and this continued overnight, a task made easier by the fact that the ship left at eleven o'clock. Mild may have been the classification, but it has been reported that 15,000 cubic metres were pumped out of the sea, although a good proportion of this will have been water.
The ports authority has meantime demanded a detailed report from the ship's operator and this will be forwarded to the harbour master to assess what penalties might be issued.
The Marella Dream used to be named Thomson Dream. When Tui announced that Thomson Cruises would be rebranded as Marella Cruises, the ship's name was changed.
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The local government will now have millions of extra euros swindled from tourists via the tourist tax. They can use that to clean up the port - we might as well get our money's worth!
The sooner these cruise ships are brought under control, with a rigorous assessment of their environmental impact, the better. I’d be interested in an expert opinion of emissions: ships vs cars vs aircraft. Having worked in the two latter industries, I have some rough estimates but I know nothing about ships...but I suspect that they are destroying marine life and are major polluters. The answer is not green taxes or higher visit fees though. It’s just less bloody ships.