Sustainability at AIDA doesn’t just mean technological innovations. It also means acting in an environmentally friendly way every day – both on board and ashore. Whether it’s the planning of the ship’s fit-out, the organization of excursions or the purchasing of products – the environment is always a key consideration in decision-making. Furthermore, we sensitize our employees and guests to sustainable behavior.
We don’t just want to impress our guests with our outstanding service. We also want to design our services to be as sustainable as possible. Our bike, Segway and E-Bike excursions perfectly illustrate the fact that protecting the environment is a lot of fun. We are always careful to ensure that waste is disposed of or taken back on board during shoreside excursions. And in our diving excursions, we make sure that our guests can wonder at the underwater world, but without touching anything as this ecosystem in particular is very fragile. We do not visit dolphinariums because of animal welfare. At AIDA, we like to lead by example. We sensitize our guests to sustainability and generate enthusiasm for it.
At the end of 2012, we introduced what we like to call an environmental hour on board the first ships. Here, our environmental officers tell interested guests about our commitment and answer their questions. Our environmental officers play a central role on board. It is their task to ensure that national and international environmental protection legislation is respected. We base our activities on the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) and on the provisions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations specialized agency. Our environmental officers are supported by our internal sustainability organization and our integrated management system. What’s more, the officers are also responsible for waste management and training employees about environmental issues.
The active involvement of all of our employees is essential for the success of our environmental strategy. From day one, we sensitize them to the responsible use of natural resources – at regular training sessions, for example. Every crew member completes a special environmental training program on how to deal correctly with resources, waste water and waste. Our officers also receive job specific training which specially prepares them for the environment-specific requirements of their daily work on deck or in the engine room. Transparency is particularly important here. In the event of legal or internal amendments, employees are immediately informed of the changes that are being made to everyday working procedures, and the reasons for these. Because at the end of the day, we don’t just want our employees to act in an environmentally friendly way to comply with regulations; we also want them to know why it is that we ask this.
We can also achieve a great deal on board by being more environmentally aware. We are making savings of around 30% to the connected load in the hotel lighting of all ships from AIDAsol on with innovative lighting equipment and a comprehensive light management system. Of course, we have to call on the support of our employees and guests in this area, in order to save the corresponding power. To ensure that lights and air conditioning are not switched on unnecessarily, each guest on our three newest ships can use a key card switch to switch lights on and off when they enter or leave their cabin. All cabins in the new ships are also equipped with a modern air recirculation system which includes waste heat recovery. This saves even more energy as the temperature in each cabin is controlled separately (HVAC control system). This modern technology reduces energy consumption in the cabins by up to 20%. We only use refrigerants which do not damage the ozone layer that protects the earth. This has allowed us to reduce emissions of ozone-depleting refrigerants to zero.
Saving water is also an important issue at AIDA. Our guests are using less and less water – quite automatically. That’s because we have moved over to water-saving appliances such as special shower heads, flow regulators on wash hand basins and showers, and timer and infrared switches in washroom areas. Furthermore, a vacuum system is used to operate toilet flushing. This particularly water-effective system means that only one liter of water is used per flush. We have also installed a vacuum food waste system on our new ships. This uses considerably less water than conventional food waste disposal systems. That’s because instead of the waste being pumped through pipes with water, we transport it to the waste storage tank using a vacuum system. All of this is based on the MARPOL Convention of the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO). It contains guidelines for ocean protection and also defines individual emissions regulations for special areas such as the North and Baltic Seas. In accordance with MARPOL regulations, there is a ban on the disposal of untreated waste in the Baltic Sea within twelve nautical miles of the coast. We go one step further and base our practices on our own Zero Discharge Policy. What does this mean? It means that strictly no untreated waste water is discharged in the ocean by AIDA ships.
Naturally, optimized operation of our ships also plays an important role in environmental protection. We have been cruising many routes at a considerably lower speed for a long time now. This is a good opportunity for even greater fuel savings. Furthermore, efficient route management, guidelines on channels navigable for route optimization and improvements to scheduling and laytime are also ways of saving substantial amounts of fuel.
We also keep the CO2 emissions of our company automobiles at as low a level as possible. By buying more energy-efficient new automobiles, we significantly reduced average emissions in 2012 compared to 2011. We cut our fleet’s CO2 emissions from 342 to 291 tonnes. In 2013, we start using electric and natural gas vehicles for the first time. We want to check in a test run whether the automobiles can prove themselves in everyday use at AIDA.
AIDA Home will become the new workplace for around 400 employees in Rostock in 2014. We followed the highest of standards in terms of energy efficiency when building the new offices which are to create additional space for more employees.
A combination of geothermal energy, vapor-compression refrigeration and district heating is used for heating and cooling. Furthermore, AIDA Home is to dispose of a modern air conditioning system with hybrid walls, concrete core temperature control, displacement ventilation and heating and cooling ceiling panels. This ensures that our employees work in a perfect environment all year round.
Efficient lamps (e.g. LED technology) and lighting control ensure that lighting conditions are also optimal. At the same time, we will be able to save up to 60% of energy required and significantly reduce CO2 emissions.
We are also working towards silver certification from the German Sustainable Business Council (DGNB). We would be the first in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to be awarded the silver quality seal.
The “Go Green” project is also centered on the reduction of our CO2 emissions. We’ve been cooperating with Deutsche Post (the German postal service) since March 2011 as part of this. The project ensures that our mail is sent with a neutral impact on the climate. And the added extra? Our participation fees allow us to support climate protection projects in China, Africa and India.
As well as technological efficiency, our comprehensive quality strategy is also part of our sustainability plan. That means that we take the situation as a whole into account when we make any decision. We don’t focus solely on business success; instead we also consider environmental protection, societal well-being and satisfied guests and partners. For example, when we buy products, we make sure that they can be recycled and fed back into biological or technological processes. As in nature, as many products as possible that are used in one process should be recycled in another. This reduces generation of actual waste to a minimum.
In the long-term, we want to gradually evaluate all products used by AIDA, including furniture, work wear and food products, to see if they can be recycled in biological and technological closed-loop processes. If needs be, adjustments will be made or they will be replaced. For example: From 2013, the carpets will be gradually changed in the crew cabins of our ships. The new carpet flooring will meet our requirements for sustainable products from closed-loop recycling processes. It will be made of environmentally friendly and recyclable materials. In addition, the carpet flooring is non-hazardous to health throughout its life-cycle, from fabrication to recycling. That means that it contains no components or substances that could emit hazardous materials, such as irritants, during its manufacture or use.
Cradle-to-cradle-principle: example carpet tile
Another example of the principle of comprehensive quality is our joining of the “CEOs pro Recyclingpapier” (CEOs for recycling paper) initiative. In 2012, in addition to the Pro Recyclingpapier initiative, we responded to calls from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Naturschutzbund Deutschland) and the German Association of the Club of Rome. In doing so, we committed to using only recycled paper with the blue angel emblem for our paper and printing needs. All paper and printing materials ordered from 2013 will be correspondingly certified.
Picture carpets: steschum/Fotolia.com; Picture soil: M. Schuppich/Fotolia.com; Picture garbage truck: Ssogras/Fotolia.com
all other Picture: Desso
