(Green Ships + Green Ports) = Sustainable Shipping

DEERBERG-SYSTEMS IS a German based specialist for environmental protection systems. In the past 30 years Deerberg has innovated maritime waste management technology and has been a prime mover in developing and introducing state-of-the-art solutions to the marine industry. The main focus is to develop marked-led solutions enabling ships to operate above and beyond compliance with international regulations. The Deerberg-Multi- Purpose-Waste-Management-System MPWMS® is fully integrated into the ship system guaranteeing unrestricted international operation and helping to continuously improve the ships overall environmental footprint. All Deerberg MPWMS® systems are bespoke solutions, tailored to the individual requirement of each ship. With 165 Large Passenger Vessels, 72 Navy Vessels, 28 SuperYachts, 12 Special and more than 650 Merchant Vessels Deerberg-Systems is acknowledged to be the world-wide leader in their field.

Every day thousands of ships are cruising the world’s oceans, seas, and rivers transporting goods and people from port to port. All these ships - whatever their activity - are producing waste. Sludge oil from the machinery rooms or various waste streams from the hotel operation of ferries and cruise ships – everything needs to be handled, on the ship and later on shore. The shipping industry is one of the most regulated industries in the world and of course also the handling of waste on board ships is clearly regulated. IMO sets the international standards and defines special regulated areas. An array of national regulations, often much stricter than the international requirements, like e.g. Alaska and HELCOM and finally individual local port regulations come on top.

Especially ships that are operating internationally and mainly in coastal areas, like cruise ships, find themselves under a growing legal framework that is limiting the ships operation, also and especially with regard to waste handling. On board Incineration is more and more limited and more waste has to be given on shore, a challenge as every country and even more every port has different requirements or facilities on how waste can be landed. In our example, we have chosen cruise ships as they, through the number of persons on board and consequently waste amounts produced, can best depict the importance of a modern ship/shore interface, meaning a well prepared and equipped port reception facility.

We find a multitude of different waste streams on cruise ships which basically represent floating cities carrying all facilities, amenities and public services on board. As in every community large amounts of solid and liquid, potentially hazardous, as well as recyclable materials have to be individually and professionally collected, transported and processed. As unprocessed waste takes a lot of space and is also a potential source of safety and fire risks on board a ship an integrated, efficient and effective treatment system is required to make sure that neither passengers, crew or the operation of the ship in general are endangered at any time.

All modern cruise ships are of course equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to collect and (pre-) treat the on board accumulating waste to the highest possible environmental standard. The waste management system is also a key system in enabling an unlimited world-wide operation of the ship. Thus operators have an eye on the systems to work above and beyond compliance of current international, national, and local regulations. Clean seas and destinations are another major aspect in the cruise product, despite the ship becoming more and more a destination in itself, and therefore cruise companies have an unparalleled interest to be more environmentally-conscious than anybody else in the marine industry. Hence a large effort is put into strict waste segregation on board to sort out and separate all recyclables and valuable resources that can be reused or put back into the cycle. To avoid making this effort meaningless an active and prepared counterpart is required on shore.

A state-of-the-art system like the Deerberg-Multi- Purpose-Waste-Management-System MPWMS® is of course fulfilling all these requirements and spreads over the complete ship, transporting waste or waste water over 10 to 14 decks, often using several hundred meter long pipelines. Together with lifts and corridors used by the crew the waste is brought to the central waste management facility where all the different waste fractions are orderly segregated and stored before they are treated further.

Depending on the operational profile of the ship a Deerberg MPWMS® can be operated in sorting- or and non-sorting mode. Sorting-mode means everything what can be recycled will be sorted out and prepared – e.g. crushed, compacted or bagged – for onshore landing and only remaining material will be given into the incinerator. Non-sorting mode means everything will be given through the incinerator (of course excluding any hazardous or other materials that are not allowed to be burned) when adequate reception facilities are not available on the foreseeable route. The waste is then burned and e.g. glass, tins will be disinfected during the incineration process in order to avoid bacterial growth in organically “contaminated” waste fractions. They can later still be taken out the ash and given into a recycling process.

How a system is operated depends then on the regulations that have to be fulfilled in the cruising area but also on the port reception facilities that can be used.

Waste water represents the largest waste stream per passenger. 350 liters of grey and black water will be produced per day. Black water is collected by a vacuum toilet system in cabins and public spaces, grey water from cabins, restaurants, laundries etc. is mainly collected by gravity. All is then transported in modern ships to Advanced Waste Water Treatment Systems (AWT), bio-reactors where the waste water is treated to almost drinking water quality either with membranes or comparable technologies. The clean effluent, depending on the area of operation, can be given directly over board or needs to be stored before discharge. The residues of all AWT systems are screened solids from the inlet streams and bioresidues from the bio-reactor. These bioresidues are normally dewatered, dried and given to the incineration system for burning.

Food waste is another big waste stream. Up to 2kg per day per passenger is collected in up to 25 decentralized feeding stations and is transported by vacuum or water through a pipe system to the waste management area. The waste will then normally be prepared for incineration by dewatering and drying before feeding it in the incinerator together with the other burnable waste.

Packaging materials, paper, cardboard, plastic foils, PET bottles, glass, wooden crates, pallets, tins, and cans for food and consumables which are needed to serve the guests and crew are brought from the preparation areas and kitchens to the recycling section of the waste management area. The same goes for all the waste from the passenger decks, cabins - incl. the waste that passengers bring on board in their luggage or from shore trips, shops, bars, restaurants or any other entertainment or leisure facility. Together another 2kg per passenger per day can be calculated for burnable and recyclable waste.

Other bigger waste fractions are fats, oils and greases (FOGs). Sludge oil is depending on the size of the ships main engine and can amount to 2-3 cubic per day. Grease from grease traps and e.g. cooking oil from frying pans can add some more 100-200 liters per day. FOGs will be put into a preparation unit that heats and dewaters the oily substances before they are also normally burnt in the on board incinerator.

Medical waste from the on board hospital needs also to be considered - a potentially contaminated waste that has to be cautiously treated and is usually immediately burned via special flaps in the incinerator. Finally waste resulting from the general ship operation like light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, paints, solvents, chemicals, oily rags, filters, electronics, aerosol cans, carpets, batteries, printer cartridges, photo waste, etc. is collected, stored and finally landed on shore.

The importance of a working ship/shore interface

We have seen that a multitude of very different waste streams has to be collected, sorted, stored and processed on board the ship and that especially cruise ships put a large effort into identifying recyclables and valuable resources. Whether or not these recyclables and resources are really re-used mainly if not only depends on the modernity and philosophy of the reception facility.

Ports should see their facilities in terms of recyclables maybe in two ways. For ships which are already recycling to a large extend the port is the extension and continuation of the ships endeavor to identify and separate these valuables and make sure that the operators wish to put these materials back into the cycle is really fulfilled. It makes no sense for ships to put their efforts in waste separation if everything is thrown back into “one hole” after it has been landed ashore. Especially in modern times where more and more materials and substances, even cooking oils, printer cartridges, china etc. can be recycled, or organic materials could be put into land based biogas facilities to produce energy, port facilities must be prepared to take them all and have to be connected to respective professional companies who are specialized in processing each of the individual resources. Certificates that the landed resources are recycled should be issued to provide confidence on all sides.

But confidence and facilities should of course also be given regarding all other waste streams that are landed. Certificates that general, hazardous or potentially contaminated waste is disposed in a professional and environmentally sound way will play an important role in future environmental regulation when ships will have to prove what happened to their landed waste and will be liable “until the end”. Also standardization of port facilities will play an important success in making this process more sustainable.

For ships which are not yet recycling to the largest possible extend the provision of state-of-the-art port facilities connected with an intelligent harbor-due scheme will be an encouragement to participate in recycling and land all valuables separated on shore. In the medium-term ships may not have to pay any harbor dues at all, and in the long-term they may even be paid for landing waste when everybody is participating and a sustainable chain from ship to port to recycler is established. Currently this is in fact a vision but with resources getting limited it also gets more valuable.

The role of ports today is influenced from many sides and gets more and more important in an ever growing shipping industry. They represent gateways to cities, countries or islands and are the entry point not only for goods and passengers but also for recyclables, resources and other types of waste that need to be handled. The responsibility to protect their hinterland and the environment in general starts there and needs to be taken seriously. Many ports will already have a quite well developed infrastructure in the back which can be further developed but especially remote ports and islands will have to think about building up future oriented, sustainable concepts. We have current situations where ships have the much better e.g. incineration facilities on board but have to land their waste which is then handle at a lower standard than possible. This cannot be a solution and needs to be addressed quickly.

A continuous dialogue between ports and shipowners will be necessary to complete the environmental puzzle and to develop cutting edge facilities and infrastructure in the best practical, environmental and sustainable way.

Ports are the country’s flagships and the way they “welcome” their guests will mainly influence the port perception. In times where harbors compete against each other, the smarter, greener, and better prepared port will make the race.