I read on this newspaper that cruise liner pollution will only get worse. If that were to happen, then Malta might make it to the very bottom of next year’s European environmental agency list of dirty (polluted) air countries. Wonder if that would put off many tourists eyeing Malta.

I also read that Norway had imposed stricter fuel requirements for these vessels in its touristic areas. I therefore surmise that some of these liners have dual fuel systems. They use ordinary EU-approved fuel for cruising from the Mediterranean to Norway and then switch to a better (less polluting) fuel for cruising the fjords.

I think the Mediterranean countries, members of the EU, that attract many tourists should lobby the EU to have a rule similar to Norway’s so that cruise liners and, perhaps, other large ships too, would have dual fuel systems. They can then switch to clean fuel at some point offshore and, when dockside, only run engines on the clean fuel. As it stands now, they are dockside for eight hours or so running on fuel that seems to emit toxic cancerous fumes.