The Viking Cinderella, an environmentally friendly cruise vessel on the Baltic Sea

Viking Line endeavours to operate its passenger vessels in environmentally friendly ways and to offer travellers an environmentally correct alternative. The core of its environmental work is sound management of residual products from its operations. This is achieved by reducing discharges into the sea and emissions into the air, as well as by optimizing the use of raw materials. All Viking Line vessels meet ISO 14001 international environmental standards.

The environmental work of the Viking Cinderella meets the requirements established for our operations by the ISO 14001 environmental management system. In the spring of 2002, the vessel received an environmental management certificate after many years of systematic environmental efforts.

As the Viking Line vessel Viking Cinderella begins service on the Stockholm – Mariehamn route, all its engines are equipped with catalytic cleansing systems for exhaust gases, which reduce nitrogen oxides (NO_x) by 97 per cent to 0,4 g/kWh. The Viking Cinderella also uses low-sulphur fuel to reduce emissions of sulphur compounds (SO_x). The total costs of environmentally adapting the vessel are estimated at SEK 19 M (more than USD 2 million).

The Viking Cinderella is able to use electricity from onshore sources while in Stockholm.

The Viking Cinderella’s auxiliary engines are equipped with extra sound suppressors to reduce noise, especially in port.

The vessel has a closed system for collecting wastewater, which is all pumped ashore to municipal wastewater treatment plants.

The underwater hull of the Viking Cinderella has been optimized for sensitive archipelago conditions, greatly reducing the size of surface waves. Viking Line has also tried to minimize these effects by means of suitable fairway selection and limited vessel speed.

The vessel’s raw material use has been optimized in order to minimize the quantity of solid waste. The waste materials nevertheless generated are separated into various categories (glass, cardboard, paper, metal, electronics, plastic, cooking oil, aluminium cans, Tetrapaks and problem wastes). The energy from mixed wastes is recycled as heat in highly efficient land-based energy generating plants. Our recycling partner in Stockholm is RagnSells AB, and in the Åland Islands of Finland – where Mariehamn is located – it is Ålands Renhållnings Ab.

Chemical products

Instead of using toxic paints on the bottoms of its vessels to avoid biological fouling, Viking Line has chosen to brush the hulls mechanically a few times per year.

Viking Line has also replaced coolants that damage the stratospheric ozone layer with environmentally sound compounds approved by public authorities.

Environmental work is a natural element of the company’s day-to-day job. Shipboard employees participated in environmental training programmes during 2001 and 2002. Viking Line employees are highly environmentally aware and committed.

The vessel’s environmental team serves as a link between Viking Line’s head office and shipboard environmental efforts.

The use of chemicals is monitored and audited regularly. Viking Line’s procurement manual specifies the environmental standards to be borne in mind when purchasing products and services. The purpose is to minimize environmental impact by sound selection that takes into account long-term environmental and ecological thinking. Starting in 2001, Viking Line sent out a special supplier evaluation form to its largest suppliers. The company’s ambition is to be a role model in this field.

• The environmentally friendly Humid Air Motor (HAM) method, which employs sea water to achieve the desired effect, received the main prize in the Countering Marine Pollution category in the international Seatrade Awards 2000 competition. The Viking Line vessel Mariella was the first vessel in the world to be equipped with this revolutionary technology. In the same year, Viking Line received the environmental prize of the Foundation for the Baltic Sea, which focused on the environmental commitment of passenger shipping companies.
  
  
• In 2002, Viking Line was awarded the Maritime Forum 2002 Environmental Prize for its role in reducing nitrogen oxide emissions from its vessels by using the HAM method.
  
  
• In 2002 Viking Line, together with another shipping company, received the year’s Environmental Buoy Award of the Ports of Stockholm. The company won this prize because it has run active and goal-oriented environmental programmes for many years. Other reasons cited were the transition to low-sulphur fuel in the early 1990s and the installation of the HAM method, which substantially reduced emissions of sulphur and nitric oxides. The award also recognized the building of systems for waste sorting at source, as well as closed wastewater systems with on-shore pumping of wastewater to municipal treatment plants.