Holland America Line - Final Grade: "B-"
Holland America Line was originally founded in 1873 as the Dutch-America Steamship Company. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, HAL is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation. HAL’s fleet of 15 cruise ships carries more than 700,000 cruise passengers each year. HAL’s six newest ships have a capacity of over 3,300 passengers and crew, including HAL’s newest ship, the Nieuw Amsterdam.
Of HAL’s 15 ships, 12 have installed advanced sewage treatment systems, resulting in a grade of B+ for the company’s 80 percent sewage treatment score. In determining the air pollution reduction grade for each cruise line, only ships that dock at a port that currently has shoreside power (thereby avoiding burning dirty fuel in port) were considered. In total, seven of Holland’s ships that dock at a port with shoreside power are plug-in capable, giving the company a C in this category (three of the ships HAL have equipped with shoreside power hookups, the Eurodam, Nieuw Amsterdam and Noordam, are not being sent to ports where shoreside power is offered, so for purposes of determining HAL’s air pollution reduction grade, these ships were only given half credit). In 2010, four of HAL’s ships - the Ryndam, Statendam, Volendam and Zaandam - were cited by Alaskan authorities for 13 violations of Alaskan water pollution standards, giving HAL an 83 percent for water quality compliance in Alaska, or a B+.
Holland America Line - Cruise Ship Fleet
| Ship Name | Total Persons on Board | Destinations | Sewage Treatment | Air Pollution Reduction | Water Quality Compliance | Final Ship Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oosterdam | 3321 | Alaska, U.S. West Coast, Australia, New Zealand | A | A | N/A | A |
| Westerdam | 3321 | Caribbean, Central America, U.S. West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii | A | A | N/A | A |
| Zuiderdam | 3319 | Alaska, Caribbean, Central America, U.S. West Coast | A | A | N/A | A |
| Noordam | 3306 | Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, U.S. East Coast | A | C | N/A | B+ |
| Ryndam | 2203 | Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, U.S. East Coast | A | F | B+ | C |
| Statendam | 2205 | Alaska, Central America, South America, Hawaii | A | F | B | C |
| Veendam | 2295 | Caribbean, South America, U.S. East Coast, Canada, Mexico, New England, Europe | A | F | N/A | C- |
| Volendam | 2452 | Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, U.S. West Coast | A | F | B+ | C |
| Amsterdam | 2387 | Alaska, Australia, Caribbean, Central America, New Zealand, Southeast Asia | F | A | N/A | C- |
| Zaandam | 2452 | Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, U.S. West Coast, South America | A | F | A- | C |
| Eurodam | 3662 | Canada, Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, New England, U.S. East Coast | A | C | N/A | B+ |
| Maasdam | 2201 | Canada, Caribbean, Europe, New England, South America, U.S. East Coast | A | F | N/A | C- |
| Prinsendam | 1380 | Antarctic, Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, South America, U.S. East Coast | F | F | N/A | F |
| Rotterdam | 2426 | Europe, Mediterranean, Asia, Caribbean | F | F | N/A | F |
| Nieuw Amsterdam | 3666 | Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, U.S. East Coast | A | C | N/A | B+ |
Grading methodology for the 2012 Cruise Ship Report Card
Friends of the Earth’s Cruise Ship Report Card ranks 15 major cruise lines and 148 cruise ships -- Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Cunard Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean Int’l, Seabourn Cruise Line and Silversea Cruises -- according to three environmental criteria: Sewage Treatment, Air Pollution Reduction, and Water Quality Compliance.
- To determine a cruise line’s Sewage Treatment grade, we compared the number of cruise ships in the cruise line that have installed advanced sewage treatment systems against the total number of ships in the cruise line.
- To determine the Air Pollution Reduction grade for each ship in a cruise line, only ships that dock at a port and plug in to available shoreside power hookups were graded.
- To determine the Water Quality Compliance grade for ships operating in Alaska, we used 2010 notices of violation issued for individual cruise ships to each cruise line by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Ships were given an ‘N/A’ if they traveled to Alaska but avoided Alaska’s strong water quality standards by discharging outside of those protected waters.
- The grades for each of the criteria were averaged to calculate the Final Grade for each cruise line.