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Cruise News for the Corporate Travel Professional

January 2010 Edition

New Shipping Rules will impact Antartic cruise lines

The countries that manage Antarctica plan tough new controls on ships visiting the southern Oceans.

The new code will reduce the number of ships carrying tourists to the region by requiring that their ships have hulls strengthened to withstand sea ice plus they have banned the use of heavy oil as bunker fuel.  The fuel ban in itself will effectively shut out big cruise ships.

Annual tourism numbers have grown by 450% in a decade and tourist can currently expect to pay anywhere from $3000 to $25,000 for a two week cruise.

Experts from the 47 signatory nations to the Antarctic Treaty and the International Maritime Organization discussed plans to impose a mandatory Polar Code to control shipping in the region at a meeting In Auckland, New Zealand.

The safeguards are seen as necessary to limit accidents in the region where blinding sleet, fog, high winds and treacherous seas pose major dangers for ships and huge problems for rescuers located thousands of miles away from remote Antarctic waters.

The code will cover vessel design, safety equipment, ship operations, and crew training for ice navigation.  The code is expected to come into force in 2013.

While existing regulations bar tour operators etc. from leaving any garbage or human waste behind as well as requiring protection of animal breeding grounds there are no formal codes on the kind of vessels that can use the waters or the kind of fuel they can carry.

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