NEWS /
SMI Declaration

Progress in the cruise industry’s sustainability efforts

The cruise industry is making giant strides towards greater sustainability, with big wins recorded for fuel, emissions, energy efficiency, and other projects. To date, though, there has been no coordinated cross-industry action plan for ship interiors, with progress in this field made primarily from isolated islands of activity.

Unlike land-based construction, there has been no common best practice framework for sustainably building and maintaining ship interiors that can unite this community in the pursuit of collective goals. Interior designers and specifiers of land-based buildings have certifiable environmental guidelines that they can adopt and follow that do not exist for maritime projects. But in the maritime sector, it has been down to progressive shipowners to write their own guidelines or adapt practices from other industries.

Now, with the impending launch of the Sustainable Maritime Interiors initiative, we can look forward to industry-specific guidance, focus, and collaboration on a sustainable future. This new initiative is spearheaded by a group of like-minded designers, specifiers, and other maritime experts, including the team at Cruise & Ferry, and is based around a declaration of advocacy and action for the environment.

A starting point for positive progress

The declaration will not solve the challenges that we face, but it will give us a starting point from which to move forward more positively. It will guide owners, designers, and specifiers, and it will inspire other stakeholders to contribute the missing elements that are needed to build and maintain more sustainable ship interior life cycles.

At Dansk Wilton we are excited about this great initiative and happy to be part of a positive movement for the industry.