BROOKLYN (New York): Informed sources tell CARIBBEAN TIMES NEWSPAPER that a major cruise line that calls on the Caribbean region will have to pay a US$40 million penalty – the largest-ever for crimes involving deliberate vessel pollution.
Reports out of Florida say that the sentence was imposed on Princess Cruise Lines
Ltd by US District Judge Patricia Seitz in Miami, for illegally dumping oil-contaminated waste overboard and falsifying official logs to conceal the crime. In her ruling, Judge Seitz also ordered that US$1 million be awarded to a British engineer, who first reported the illegal discharges to the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), that in turn provided the evidence to the US Coast Guard.
The newly hired engineer on the Caribbean Princess reported that a so-called “magic pipe” had been used on August 23, 2013, to illegally discharge oily waste off the coast of England without the use of required pollution prevention equipment. Evidence gathered by the whistleblower, including photographs of the magic pipe, led to an inspection of the cruise ship both in England and then when it reached New York on September 14, 2013. During each of the separate inspections certain crew members concealed the illegal activity by lying to the authorities in accordance with orders they had received from
Caribbean Princess engineering officers.
Court papers allege that the Caribbean Princess had been making illegal discharges through bypass equipment since 2005, one year after the ship began operations.
The August 2013 discharge approximately
23 miles off the coast of England involved approximately 4,227 gallons within the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
The sentence imposed by the judge also requires that the Princess Cruise Line remain on probation for a period of five years during which time all of the related Carnival cruise ship companies trading in the US will be required to implement an environmental compliance plan that includes independent audits by an outside company and oversight by a court appointed monitor.
Reports say that as a result of the government’s investigation, Princess has already
taken various corrective measures, including upgrading the oily water separators and oil content monitors on every ship in its fleet and instituting many new policies. Court papers allege that the Caribbean Princess had been making illegal discharges through bypass equipment since 2005, one year after the ship began operations. The August 2013 discharge approximately 23 miles off the coast of England involved approximately 4,227 gallons within the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone. At the same time as the discharge, engineers ran clean seawater through the ship’s monitoring equipment in order to conceal the criminal conduct and create a false digital record for a legitimate discharge.
The case against Princess included illegal practices that were found to have taken place on five Princess ships – Caribbean Princess, Star Princess, Grand Princess, Coral Princess and Golden Princess.
A perceived motive for the crimes was financial – the chief engineer that ordered the dumping off the coast of England told subordinate engineers that it cost too much to
properly offload the waste in port and that the shore-side superintendent who he reported to would not want to pay the expense.
The Caribbean Cruise line is a regular visitor to the Caribbean region but it is not known if the line was engaged in illegal waste dumping in the region.
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