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FORTUNE.COM // NOVEMBER 2019
To comply with new environmental rules, one of the world’s
most polluting industries is deploying sci-fi technologies.
By Jennifer Alsever
TECH NEX T YEAR, MILLIONS OF VACATIONERS will sip Champagne as
they watch the sun set over the ocean on Carnival cruise
ships. All the while, company engineers will be engrossed by a
different set of bubbles—under their vessels.
In the coming months, Carnival’s engineers will begin pulling
115,000-ton ships into dry dock and crawling beneath the hulls.
There, they’ll weld nine mattress-size metal boxes to the outside
of each hull in the shape of a “V” and install air compressors inside
the vessels. The system, from Silverstream Technologies, will create
a carpet of tiny air bubbles between the ships and the water. The
expected benefit: less drag and 5% to 10%
better fuel efficiency, achieving up to $1 mil-
lion in annual savings per ship.
“Just one ship is like a floating city consuming
energy,” says Mike Kaczmarek, Carnival’s vice
president of marine technology. “We’re always
looking out for new, cutting-edge advances, and
this concept is simple, clever, and it works.”
The world’s largest cruise ship company’s
quest for energy efficiency comes as the
maritime industry, among the world’s biggest
polluters, faces sweeping new environmental
regulations in January. The new rules are forc-
ing shipping companies to clean up their act,
and they’re responding by deploying everything
from futuristic sails to supersize batteries.
That said, reducing the environmental impact
of shipping is a profound challenge. New tech-
nologies, by themselves, can do only so much
for an industry that transports a huge chunk of
world trade and ferries millions of tourists.
Oil tankers, container ships, and cruise lin-
ers guzzle massive amounts of fuel. This “bun-
BIG SHIPS TACK TO
A GREENER FUTURE
Several maritime
companies have
added systems
from Silverstream
Technologies that
envelop their ships’
hulls in bubbles to
save on fuel.
COURTESY OF SILVERSTREAM TECHNOLOGIES
