Open letter to Karina Hilton Spiegel, Manager Sustainability Programs, Carnival Corporation & plc

Cruise ships and the Baltic Sea

2015-09-14

Attn. Karina Hilton Spiegel


Dear Karina,
 
After learning that it is common practice for cruise ships to empty their septic tanks into the Baltic sea I am chocked.
Cruise ships in the Baltic produce hundreds of millions liters of sewage annually and the majority seems to be intentionally, not accidentially, flushed into the sea. This cannot be compatible with any sustainability practices as there are better options available.

There are free services for handling septic waste in many Baltic ports: Stockholm, Tallinn, and Helsinki to mention a few. Cruise lines should plan routes to take advantage of these facilities instead of dumping excrements and waste in open water. 

If your company is to make a profit from cruises on our beloved Baltic sea, you should act responsibly and take care of your waste like you do with any other trash.

In Sweden it is now illegal even for tiny leisure craft to dump sewage into the sea. This law may not apply to your company, but it gives an idea of how we look at this practice.

The Baltic sea is a bad state already and the sewage dumped from large cruise ships damages the fragile ecosystem even further. Sewage is a contributing factor to blooming algae.

Cruise ships that dump sewage in the Baltic should not be welcome as the environmental impact is too big to accept in this sensitive environment.

I will not go on a cruise anywhere before I find an environmentally responsible cruise line that commits to stop dumping sewage in the Baltic.

I am looking forward to your response.

Kind regards,

Ulrika Ferm

Helsinki, Finland

Sluta dumpa toalettavfall i Östersjön

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