Royal Caribbean Cruises revealed plans on 22nd December 2014 to retrofit 19 of its ships with exhaust gas scrubbers to meet the new European standards introduced on 1st January 2015.

The scrubber systems, formally known as advanced emissions purification (AEP) systems, will remove more than 97% of the sulphur dioxide emissions generated by the marine diesel engines. Royal Caribbean said its decision to implement the AEP systems instead of switching to a fuel with a lower sulphur content was due to the limited availability of lower-sulphur fuels, and therefore the use of scrubbers would ensure that RCL’s ships can remain compliant everywhere they operate.

Royal Caribbean has been developing, testing and planning for the use of AEP technology since 2010. Two newly built RCL ships that entered into service this year, Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas and TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 3, were among the first cruise ships to be built with AEP systems installed during initial construction. Also Royal Caribbean International’s 154,407gt/2007 built Liberty of the Seas has been operating one of her six engines with a retrofitted AEP system for two years. For the retrofits, RCL has already contracted two suppliers, Swedish company Alfa Laval and Finnish company Wartsila. Eight days after the announcement RCL was granted an exemption on the Emission Control Areas (ECAs) whilst the scrubber technology is installed.

Also in December RCL ended a long-term lease of the 90090gt/2002 built Brilliance of the Seas and purchased her outright from UK owners HBOS Group. Using a revolving credit facility, RCL paid US$275m thus ending a 25-year charter signed in July 2002, eleven years ahead of schedule.