Environmental Impact of Cruise Shipping in Arctic Region

Abstract

The Arctic region has been gaining importance rapidly in recent years. Many parties and industries started to benefit from the region in different aspects. Gradually melting of glaciers and ice sheets due to global warming facilitated the growth of cruise tourism to be one of these aspects. The number of cruise ships and passengers in the Arctic has been increasing in the last decade, like growth in cruise industry globally. On the other hand, as the activities in the region increased, the possibility of environmental pollution that could occur in the region increased. The fact that the region has a sensitive and yet not fully explored ecosystem makes this environmental pollution potential even more important. In this paper, the impact of cruise tourism on environmental pollution in the Arctic region has been studied. Several factors were identified by reviewing the literature, reports, statistics, and legislation. These factors were clustered under main categories and possible impacts of each factor were discussed. Use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) by cruise ships, amount of energy to operate cruise ships, waste generated onboard cruise ships and lack of infrastructure in the Arctic region were found as factors that have a crucial impact on the Arctic ecosystem.

Keywords

• Arctic Region
• Environmental Pollution
• Cruise Ships
• Cruise Tourism
• Maritime Management

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