The Passenger Vessel Association (PVA), the nation's representative of owners and operators of U.S.-flagged passenger vessels of all types, launched PVA Waters – “We Are Taking Environmental Responsibility/Stewardship” – environmental conservation program coinciding with Earth Day 2009.
This voluntary program provides a comprehensive look at the “green” movement through realistic approaches for owners and operators to adopt or expand environmentally friendly practices.
The PVA Waters program best green business practices manual shares practical, cost-effective “green initiatives” through case studies and examples tailored specifically to the passenger vessel industry that introduce environmentally friendly measures and their impact on the environment and public opinion.
“Environmental regulations, once viewed as onerous, have led to rethinking how we use our waterways,” said John Groundwater, Executive Director, PVA, “Today, more and more, operators actively pursue and implement environmentally friendly practices well beyond regulation to protect our most valuable resource — the water. We realize that going green makes good business sense as our customers have become much more environmentally conscience.”
In addition to the manual, the association has created a new PVA WATERS logo to identify environmentally friendly information and developed a “green” web environment that includes easy-to-use checklists for operators to use in assessing current environmental practices and generating new ideas to improve environmental practices from vessel design and construction and operations to back-office administration.
(www.passenegervessel.com)