On February 26, 2025 whereas docked at Tortola, British Virgin Islands, the 4,200-passenger Norwegian Epic emitted a plume of white smoke that raised considerations amongst native authorities.
This prompted the Environmental Well being Division (EHD) to conduct an analysis of the emissions to make sure no dangerous chemical substances had been being launched.
In keeping with an announcement issued by the federal government on February 27, 2025, the evaluation examined the smoke for numerous hazardous substances — together with unstable natural compounds, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter.
“This was to make sure that the air high quality was not being compromised by the ship’s emissions,” the federal government assertion added, elaborating the reasoning behind the evaluation.
Quickly after, the EHD introduced that the outcomes from the checks had been inside regular vary — proving that the smoke didn’t pose any risk to passengers or residents of the island.
The EHD report clarified, “The seen plume is primarily composed of water vapor, a by-product of the ship’s Exhaust Fuel Cleansing System (EGCS), generally known as scrubbers.”
This report additionally defined that the know-how on the ship is designed to considerably scale back sulphur oxide emissions — which ensures compliance with Worldwide Maritime Group (IMO) requirements.
The IMO started adopting necessary measures in 2011 to cut back carbon emissions — however in 2023 they adopted a revised greenhouse fuel technique, aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050.
It was disclosed that Norwegian Epic’s environmental officer totally cooperated with the EHD, offering the documentation wanted for the investigation — together with the EGCS emissions report and a certificates of conformity.
Learn Additionally: Tortola Cruise Port – Getting Round, Piers, and What’s Close by
Whereas the vessel has been confirmed to be adhering to worldwide environmental rules, the EDH nonetheless advisable that the vessel change from utilizing scrubbers to utilizing low-sulphur gasoline whereas it’s berthed.
This may additional improve the air high quality for the port and the passengers — one thing that the ship’s environmental officer was prepared to contemplate.
Till that’s applied, the plans for the ship might be to change to marine fuel oil inside an hour of berthing and can revert again inside an hour of departure when visiting Tortola.
Norwegian Epic’s Lengthy Standing Historical past with Tortola
Norwegian Epic started visiting Tortola in 2016 — simply after spending 2015 at its year-round homeport in Barcelona — one thing unusual for this vessel.
The one Epic class ship has largely spent its years alternating between the Caribbean within the winter and Europe in the summertime — one thing it nonetheless continues to do.
It’s scheduled for a transatlantic crossing in April, 2025 — then the 155,873 gross ton vessel will briefly be dry docked for upkeep forward of its summer season schedule in Europe.
The cruise Norwegian Epic was on whereas it bought examined by the EHD was a 7-night round-trip Caribbean itinerary out of Port Canaveral. Along with Tortola, different stops included Puerto Plata, St. Thomas, and Nice Stirrup Cay.
Tortola itself has turn into an more and more fashionable cruise port — seeing a leap from 343,571 passengers in 2022 to 720,392 in 2023.
Tortola Pier Park opened in 2015, bettering the port’s capability by enabling trendy ships to dock and accommodating 2 vessels concurrently. Beforehand, the port might solely deal with a single small cruise ship at a time.
This so-called smoke incident comes at a time the place locals at fashionable cruise locations are extra conscious than ever that giant cruise ships are impacting the encompassing areas.
Globally, many ports have began implementing limits on cruise ships as a result of unfavourable environmental impression they’ve — protests have even damaged out barring some vessels from even docking.
Nevertheless, Tortola stays dedicated to welcoming cruises and plans to proceed to work straight with ships akin to Norwegian Epic — ones which can be prepared to adapt their environmental requirements to ensure they’ll nonetheless dock whereas minimizing its impression on the island.
