cruise lines are unlikely to invest voluntarily in pollution reduction. You would have to force you to have, says transport policy expert Daniel Rieger.

Bring the operators a lot of money, but are bad for health and the environment: cruise ships photo: Eibner/imago-images

taz: Mr. Rieger, like other environmental organizations addressed to the Nabu for years, the air pollution caused by cruise ships in European ports, including Marseille, measurements will be made. Marseille is just a case among many?

Daniel Rieger: In our Ranking of Marseilles was in eighth place. With the strong emergence has also grown through the cruise ship-related air pollution. Marseille must apply it as a Hotspot the exhaust pollution in Europe.

What's the deal with this air pollution huh?

For the health of the people are fine, especially the ultra particles at its worst. This "fine dust" is a particular suffering for the heart-and-circulatory-disease, and lung or dementia associated. If such fine particles are inhaled over a longer period of time, and increase the risk of disease dramatically. In the Danish study of the CEEH, on behalf of the European Commission spoke of 50,000 deaths in Europe, due to the fact. It is, however, also the sulphur and nitrogen oxides.

In the North of Europe was, after all, trying to reduce the so-called emission control areas (ECA), this type of pollution. How effective is it?

Because you have to look more closely: In this ECA must use areas of the ships either fuels with low sulphur content or the produced sulfur oxides to subsequently wash out. For the rest of the pollutants has no impact. Because of the fine dust is the most dangerous, then you haven't done so really an improvement. You can even talk of a window-dressing, which is assisted in by the shipowners. For the fine particles and the nitrogen oxides it would need filters and catalysts, as they are for the Cars and Trucks on the road than the Standard prescribed. The there is also for large diesel engines. Only the powers that be. But as long as the large machines have no filters and catalytic converters, you get the pollutant problem is not in the handle.

photo: NABU

Daniel Rieger is the head of the Department of transportation at the naturschutzbund Deutschland e. V. (Nabu). The organization is a 664,000 new notional members of one of the largest nature conservation associations in Germany.

If the large passenger ships are in port, do not produce allegedly round-the-clock electricity with their engines, would there be Alternatives?

For the time spent in port must be the connection to the shore power mandatory. It should, however the power led come from renewable sources, otherwise the Problem will be moved only if the electricity is produced with coal or heavy fuel oil. Such a connection to the electricity grid, there are, for example, in Hamburg and Scandinavian ports. This must of course be adapted to the on-Board network. This costs money, and the country's electricity is also more expensive than the produced heavy oil from the ships themselves. The interests of the shipowners are clear, but not acceptable.

the new ships, which are constantly to be built, Why not least, adjusted accordingly?

This industry earn the cruises a lot of money! And I don't have to tell no one, these companies have the money, order the ships to retrofit with the latest environmentally friendly technology. Only you don't do that, as long as you are committed to them.