Since the presentation of the silver Green Award for mps AmaKristina in January 2020, Rivertech accelerated the implementation of the assessment programs for its clients. The Green Award for inland shipping was a fairly well-known phenomena, but no ships had yet been certified for the river cruise industry. Rivertech received the first certificate for their customer AmaWaterways that year. A first Gold Award for the Excellence Empress was realized soon after. Rivertech’s fleet is currently looking forward to 25 silver and one gold award.
The Green Awards are an acknowledgment of the sustainability investments we made on board our river cruise ships. After the restart within the market after the Covid19 pandemic, we are now focusing on the quality on board. I.e. with the quality of our employees and the implementation of numerous greening initiatives on board.
With the Green Award, Rivertech’s partners present themselves as clean, environmentally friendly, and safe. During an audit, employees are also trained to keep the onboard installations in good working order. The waste streams including household waste and kitchen waste are treated according to the waste plan, and for the disposal of grey and black water, the concept: ‘energetic sailing’ is implemented. Our PET bottles have been replaced by glass bottles for refillable water, the hand soap bottles are ecological and refillable as well, and we ask guests to use towels several times (if possible). Also, the use of plastic consumables such as mono-packaging and straws is considerably reduced.
On various AmaWaterways ships, we use the AlphaFuelControl. The automatic correction of the load of engines saves a lot of fuel. We also use the AlphaFuelControl to realize an optimal timetable on the sailing routes. This way we never arrive too early or too late. Rivertech participates in a working group ‘board of experts’. This working group further develops the hotel concept and energy management on board. For example, a card lock system, where the energy supply in the cabins can be regulated.