Sustainability at AIDA doesn’t just mean technological innovations. It also means acting in an environmentally friendly way, both on board and ashore. Whether it’s the planning of the ship’s fit-out, the organization of excursions, or the purchase 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 how protecting the environment can be 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 for reasons 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. [Link Video Umweltoffizier] 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 local, national and international legislation, such as 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 that 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 we request this.
We can also achieve a great deal on board by being more environmentally aware: In the hotel area, for example, we save around 30% of the energy required for lighting on all ships starting with AIDAsol through 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 to save the corresponding power. To ensure that lights and air conditioning are not switched on unnecessarily, each guest on our four newest ships can use a key card switch to switch lights on and off when they enter or leave their cabins. To save even more energy, all cabins in the new ships are equipped with a modern air recirculation system that includes waste heat recovery. The temperature in each cabin can thereby be controlled separately (HVAC Control System). This modern technology reduces energy consumption in the cabins by up to 20%. For air conditioning, we only use refrigerants that do not damage the ozone layer protecting the earth. This has allowed us to reduce emissions of ozone-depleting refrigerants to zero.
Saving water is also an important issue for AIDA. Through water-saving applications, including special shower heads, flow regulators on wash hand basins and showers, timer switches and infrared control in washroom areas, along with the use of vacuum technology in the hotel and food area, we have been able to make continual reductions in the amount of water consumed per person and day in recent years.
Our paper-saving measures are a further important contribution to conserving resources. In this area, we were especially active in 2013. In the next section, we have compiled detailed information.
Our paper-saving measures are a further important contribution to conserving resources. In this area, we were especially active in 2013.
For example, at the company headquarters in Rostock, the individual printers have been removed and replaced with printers for individual floors. AIDA donates some devices that have been withdrawn from service to charitable non-profit organizations.
Apart from the printers, the paper itself is central. To save paper, we have set all printers to double-sided printing. Since 2012, AIDA has been supporting the initiative “CEOs pro Recycling Paper.” We thereby 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 starting in 2013 will be correspondingly certified. In addition, the entire range of office articles was assessed for sustainability, some items were exchanged or supplemented, and a new, sustainable article list was created. At the same time, material-saving and recyclable packaging is used.
But there are not only clever ideas for reducing paper consumption on board. Since the introduction of digital travel invoicing in 2013, documents are now only printed out on request on our ships. Only around 20 to 50 guests have their invoices printed out on board. That means we save an average of 1,100 sheets of paper and envelopes per cruise. There are no drawbacks for travelers. After their trip, they can view their invoices on MyAIDA at their leisure or receive them by e-mail.
SignPads are another technical innovation. These devices enable electronic signing. They have been in use successfully for some time at check-in, and are increasingly being deployed by Tours & Activities as well. They are used, for example, for excursion bookings, issuing tickets, or handling. By using SignPads, AIDA saves around 1 million receipts per year.
In 2013, we tested the introduction of digital photo stations in the photo shop on board AIDAbella. Since April 2013, guests can have their boarding passes read here. Using a modern facial recognition system, all photos of the pass holders are shown on the monitor. This allows guests to not only find their personal favorite vacation photo, the environment also benefits from this because the desired number of photos are only printed on individual orders. As part of a pilot project on AIDAbella, we were thus able to save 42 percent of photo paper and required chemicals for development. After a successful trial phase on AIDAbella, we will gradually introduce the photo stations on other ships in the AIDA fleet as well.
Since 2013, we have also been able save large quantities of paper by tweaking the design of our board media. For example, our port information has had a new format since 2013, resulting in a saving of around 3 million sheets of paper. “AIDA Heute” has also been given a makeover and recently started to appear in A5 format. The saving on A4 sheets is also in the millions. With both publications, we have managed to reduce their volume yet have lost nothing in terms of user-friendliness and quality. The top priority in implementing the concepts was to achieve compactness but maintain the same high level of information content. For guests who don’t wish to do without their smartphones or tablets on vacation, Hafeninfo and “AIDA Heute” are also available in digital format on the MyAIDA onboard portal where guests can download the desired documents in PDF format at any time. We can see from the user figures for the MyAIDA onboard portal that this service is very well received. We have integrated the new features of “Stateroom Account,” FAQs and the Onboard ABC. With all of these measures, it is important to us that we take these steps together with the guests.
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.
In 2014, we would like to introduce “energy reporting.” This is to serve the development of transparent reporting mechanisms within the company for a suitable energetic comparison between ships. The aim is to improve the information flow between the ships and shoreside organization, and to strengthen awareness of energy efficiency and ship operation output across the fleet.
The motor fleet of around 80 vehicles located at the company's headquarters in Rostock meets the most modern of standards. In 2013, we were able to reduce the CO2 emissions of our pool vehicles from 155 to 130 grams per km. As a result, the car fleet's average emission value is only 135 grams of CO per kilometer. In addition, first electrically powered cars will be added to the car fleet at the beginning of 2014. On new orders of company cars, natural gas vehicles are already offered to employees today. By using car sharing since 2013, AIDA Cruises is making a further contribution to environmental protection. By replacing pool vehicles with car sharing cars, we cut our annual CO2 emissions by 1.7 tons per car. Besides improving ecobalance, switching to the car sharing system also has very personal advantages for AIDA workers. The attractive BMW models and the fleet of Minis can also be used privately. Since 2013, employees at AIDA Cruises also have another option to travel around in a way that is environmentally friendly and sporty all at the same time. At its location in Rostock, we provide 20 company bicycles for use by employees. This offer is extremely popular. To motivate even more colleagues to switch from car to bike, 112 employees took part in Rostock’s “Stadtradeln” (city cycling) in 2013. They all left their cars in their garages and traveled 15,506 kilometers with their bikes, thereby saving 2.23 tons of CO2.
On September 11, 2013, AIDA Cruises was recognized for its environmentally friendly fleet management with the Green Fleet Award 2013 at the IAA in Frankfurt. The award is presented annually by TÜV Süd and recognizes the most innovative and economical ideas for more environmental protection in fleet management.
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 toward 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. Our participation fees allow us to support climate protection projects in China, Africa and India.
In addition to 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 but 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. On 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 necessary, adjustments will be made or they will be replaced. One example: Since 2013, we have been gradually changing the carpets in the crew cabins of our ships during shipyard times. The new carpet flooring meets our requirements for sustainable products from closed-loop recycling processes. It is made from 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. On our new ship AIDAprima, we even go a step further. In all passenger- and crew areas, over a total area of about 64,000 square meters, AIDAprima will be furnished with ecofriendly and recyclable carpeting. The carpeting is made from natural and sustainable raw materials, mostly from lambswool. The carpets also fulfill the rigid provisions of the program Green Label Plus of the Carpet and Rug Institute. Once the carpeting has reached the end of its useful life, it can be returned as part of an exclusive take back program. This program will be further developed to the effect that, after its exchange, old carpeting from the entire AIDA fleet will be recycled and used as carpet underlay. This is a big step for the environment because thousands of tons of carpeting will no longer simply be disposed of after use but recycled and fed back into other loop processes.
Cradle-to-cradle-principle: example carpet tile
There are many further examples of comprehensive quality on board. We procure 90 percent of the flowers in our “Blütenmeer” shop from local suppliers. Our German flower sellers are all members of the organizations “FairTrade” and “Fair Flowers - Fair Plants.” The rubber ducks available at “Blütenmeer” are made from 100 percent natural rubber. All cosmetic- and cleansing products on board AIDA are free of microplastics. In the Body and Soul Spa, we offer our guests high-quality products with purely natural ingredients. Our organic body care product lines are certified with the “Ecocert” and “Cosmebio” seals. They contain natural oils and plant extracts. On AIDA, you can even find organic lip gloss and mascara. On AIDAprima, which will be put into service in 2015, an entire organic spa awaits guests. The spa Thermal Oasis is fully based on ecological principles in its design; it was built with natural materials and our treatment offerings are celebrated with organic products.
Picture carpets: steschum/Fotolia.com; Picture soil: M. Schuppich/Fotolia.com; Picture garbage truck: Ssogras/Fotolia.com
all other Picture: Desso
