PORT OF KIEL publishes results of months-long survey
Cruise ship emissions at the Ostseekai are scarcely detectable: that’s the preliminary conclusion of a study into emission levels conducted over several months in and around the Kiel cruise ship terminal, the company said in its press release.
Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the PORT OF KIEL (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) commented: “During a certified measure-ment process it was confirmed that while ships were berthed, all the applicable regulations governing air quality in the area surrounding the cruise ship terminal were complied with.” As far as measurements of overall emissions of nitrous oxides (NO2) and fine particles (PM) are concerned, ship levels can all be included in the normal background conditions category, meaning that no measurable swings could be determined. At most, arrival and departure ma-noeuvres could show up briefly on the register whenever several cruise ships were using the Ostseekai Terminal at the same time, the study said. “The measurements will continue to be taken until the end of the year and even after the cruise shipping season has ended”, said Dirk Claus. “Evaluation so far indicates that the air quality in and around the cruise shipping ter-minal is good. There is no evidence to support a repeatedly advanced theory that there is a connection with emissions registered on the city’s Theodor Heuss Ring road”, he added.
Since the start of the cruise shipping season and on behalf of the PORT OF KIEL, the compa-nies Eurofins and Olfasense have been measuring overall emissions of nitrous oxides and fine particles at the Ostseekai Terminal, at the city’s Seegarten and Hegewischstrasse locations and also in the Ostuferhafen. Control readings have been registered on the Bremerskamp near the city’s Botanical Gardens. Being used in the operation are Eurofins stations measuring PM 2.5 and PM 10 suspended airborne particles, as well as NO2 passive samplers, complemented by sensor systems from Olfasense which measure air quality.
Optical particle counters collate PM 1, PM 2.5 and PM 10 particle readings. “Eurofins measurement procedures are recognised by the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein’s responsible Ministry of Energy, Agriculture, the Environment, Nature and Digitalisation (MELUND) and are complemented by the Olfasense measurements”, said Dirk Claus. “The proceedings have been agreed to by both MELUND and the Environmental Protection Office in the state capital Kiel”, Claus added. Measurement data was compared and evaluated by the firm of Lairm Consult, taking into consideration the arrival dates of cruise ships and the prevailing wind conditions.