Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is proud to announce that it has received the first ever “Clean Sea Award.” The award was announced at the Clean Shipping Awards ceremony held during the Nor-Shipping Conference (Oslo, June 9-12), presented in cooperation with Det Norske Veritas (DNV).   In total, 60 companies were considered for the various awards and winners were selected by an independent jury.

Royal Caribbean won the award in recognition of its superior efforts to limit discharges from ship to sea.  In 1992, Royal Caribbean established the widely renowned Save The Waves® program, to ensure crew and guests are directly engaged in our environmental management efforts.  Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas, which launches at the end of the year and with a passenger capacity of 8,400, will have a higher standard of  waste treatment  than that of the most stringent global guidelines.

“Royal Caribbean is honored to be recognized for our efforts to minimize our environmental footprint, contribute to conservation and set new standards of environmental stewardship in the shipping industry,” said Jamie Sweeting, vice president of Environmental Stewardship and Global Chief Environmental Officer for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.“As an industry we have a special responsibility to protect our marine ecosystems, because clean waters are good for the environment, good for our guests and good for our business.”

The launch of the Clean Shipping Awards corresponded with this year’s Nor-Shipping Opening Conference titled “From Crisis to Opportunity: Shipping’s Role in the Fight against Climate Change”. The conference brought together leading industry voices representing ship owners, cargo owners and regulators to discuss climate change. During the opening conference, Richard D. Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., spoke on the importance of making sure governments, consumers and other industries around the world understand the shipping industry is concerned about climate change and playing its part to minimize its greenhouse gas footprint.

“The Norwegian shipping industry is internationally recognized for being a pioneer in the development of solutions and technologies to manage a broad range of environmental issues,” said Tollef Schieander, director of Nor-Shipping.“The Clean Shipping Awards will serve to support these efforts and reward any company with the vision and expertise to develop good environmental solutions.”