With cruise activities in the Mediterranean and its adjoining seas increasing, the cruise world takes initiatives to handle the produced externalities, including the wastes produced on cruise ships. In recent times, cruise lines and ports have put a lot of efforts into reducing, selecting and managing generated wastes implementing the requirements of the international regulatory framework (MARPOL 73/78) as well as those imposed by the European legislation.
Thanos Pallis and Aimilia Papachristou in their latest port study that was presented at the 5th International Symposium on Ship Operations, Management & Economics (SOME 2015) held in Athens, Greece, 28-29 May 2015, surveyed the extent that the current practices of cruise ports in the Mediterranean region have achieved a satisfactory level of compliance. It does so via a survey that maps the existing conditions and port based practices in approximately 50 cruise ports in the region. The study concludes on the kind of facilities, technologies and services that are present at Mediterranean cruise ports. Beyond the empirical knowledge the study provides practical implications on what further can be done so as to secure a sustainable cruise future.
The paper has benefited by the work in the context of the EU funded project “Sustainable Cruise Project”, a LIFE+ project (LIFE 10 ENV/IT/367). More information about the “Sustainable Cruise Project” is available at http://www.sustainablecruise.eu
You may freely download Thanos’ and Aimilia’s paper @PortEconomics.eu.
