Tallink ships still discharging sewage into Baltic Sea (UPDATED Monday 15:00)

According to law, effluent can be released into sea 12 nautical miles from the coastline

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The Tallink shipping line's large passenger ships Romantika and Meloodia operating between Helsinki and Tallinn discharge their washing water and sewage into the sea in the international waters in the middle of the Gulf of Finland.
      The effluent is not released directly into the sea from the lavatories. It is first treated on the ships, Tallink declares.
      Even though Tallink's practice is not a violation against international regulations, its competitors have given up similar conduct years ago.
     
According to an international environmental ruling, untreated lavatory waste, the so-called black water, must not be released into the sea closer than 12 nautical miles from the coastline. No restrictions apply to the releasing of washing water, or the so-called grey water.
      The distance between Helsinki and Tallinn is about 80 kilometres. As 12 nautical miles equal around 22 kilometres, there is a section just shy of 40 kilometres in the middle of the route where lavatory waste can be discharged.
      "The aim of the restriction is to protect the shores and bathing beaches", explains Jorma Kämäräinen from the Finnish Maritime Administration. From the point of view of encumbering the marine ecosystem with undue nutrients, releasing sewage in the middle of the sea is not as hazardous as it would be closer to the shoreline.
      Agriculture, for one, is responsible for nutrients being released into the sea in much larger quantities.
     
"The combined nitrogen and phosphorus emissions from the sewage of all the passenger ships operating in the Baltic Sea equal that of a large city", estimates limnologist Seppo Knuutila from the City of Helsinki Environment Centre.
      Discharge from a single ship can have significant local implications, even though from the point of view of the entire Baltic Sea the effect is minimal.
      Tallink technical director Ülo Kollo affirms that the treated grey and black waters released from the ships are harmless. "The released water is tested regularly. It is so clean that one could wash clothes in it, or even drink it, if certain salts were added."
      Experts take a reserved stand towards Kollo's claims of "drinkable" effluent.
     
In the Helsinki Harbour, Tallink uses the same Western Terminal with the Eckerö Lines, whose ships have pumped their sewage into the city's sewer system for years.
      Tallink claims the company has been unaware of this possibility.
      "We would be very happy if we could also pump our sewage into the city's sewer system", Kollo states.
      The harbour representatives find Tallink's comments odd. The Western Terminal has had the capability to connect ships to the city's sewer system for years.
     
The effluent from Tallink's faster AutoExpress ships is removed in the Tallinn Harbour, as are the oily bilge waters.
      The Tallinn Harbour press representative Sven Ratasseppa explains that from the beginning of 2006 the harbour will introduce a waste fee, which will be based on the size of the mooring ship. The harbour will then be responsible for organising the removal of the effluent.
     
Silja Line and Viking Line leave all their sewage in harbours. This decision was made years ago. For image reasons any other kind of conduct would be impossible, a Silja Line representative stated.
      Furthermore, Silja Line has introduced the use of chemicals, mainly calcium nitrate, in order to minimise the smell detriment when emptying the sewage tanks, but also to protect the sewer systems from corrosion.
     
     
UPDATE Monday, 15:00
     
     
Tallink announced on Monday that it would henceforth be discharging effluent into the sewer system in Helsinki while vessels are in port. The statement came from CEO Håkan Nordström and follows widespread public disapproval of the former procedures.
      There had already been discussion of a possible boycott of the line's ships on Internet message boards such as Suomi24.fi and via SMS messages, after people learnt in the Helsingin Sanomat  article (first published on Sunday) that Tallink vessels were emptying their washing water and sewage into the Gulf of Finland.       
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Silja Line to be sold (4.11.2005)
  Bottom of Gulf of Finland remains in poor condition (22.8.2005)

See also:
  Passengers fill vessels to Estonia (24.3.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat