Caribbean Princess Photo: Yankeesman312

The Justice Department has announced that Princess Cruise Lines will pay a record $40 million fine for “deliberate pollution of the seas and intentional acts to cover it up” in what it called “the largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution.” 

Princess will plead guilty to charges related to the pollution discharged from five ships dating back, in at least one case, to 2005. On one cruise ship, the Caribbean Princess, oily waste was discharged using unauthorized values and various “magic pipes” for almost a decade.

From the Justice Department press release:  In addition to the use of a magic pipe to circumvent the oily water separator and oil content monitor required pollution prevention equipment, the U.S. investigation uncovered two other illegal practices which were found to have taken place on the Caribbean Princess as well as four other Princess ships – Star Princess, Grand Princess, Coral Princess and Golden Princess.  One practice was to open a salt water valve when bilge waste was being processed by the oily water separator and oil content monitor.  The purpose was to prevent the oil content monitor from otherwise alarming and stopping the overboard discharge.  This was done routinely on the Caribbean Princess in 2012 and 2013.  The second practice involved discharges of oily bilge water originating from the overflow of graywater tanks into the machinery space bilges.  This waste was pumped back into the graywater system rather than being processed as oily bilge waste.  Neither of these practices were truthfully recorded in the oil record book as required.  All of the bypassing took place through the graywater system which was discharged when the ship was more than four nautical miles from land.  As a result, discharges within U.S. waters were likely.  

‘Princess, headquartered in Santa Clarita, California, is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation (Carnival), which owns and operates multiple cruise lines and collectively comprises the world’s largest cruise company.  Carnival is headquartered in Miami.  As part of the plea agreement with Princess, cruise ships from eight Carnival cruise line companies (Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line N.V., Seabourn Cruise Line Ltd. and AIDA Cruises) will be under a court supervised Environmental Compliance Program (ECP) for five years.  The ECP will require independent audits by an outside entity and a court appointed monitor.”

One paragraph in the DOJ press release identifies the underlying problem: 

“The pollution in this case was the result of more than just bad actors on one ship,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden.  “It reflects very poorly on Princess’s culture and management.  This is a company that knew better and should have done better.  Hopefully the outcome of this case has the potential not just to chart a new course for this company, but for other companies as well.”

Sadly, this case looks all too familiar. We have seen this all before. Between 1998 and 2001 Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines was fined close to $30 million for intentional dumping of waste, including installing “magic pipes” to get around required on board sensors, and for trying to cover up the dumping. Carnival was also fined $18 million for illegal dumping in 2002.

 The claim that the fine to be paid by Princess is “the largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution,” may or may not be accurate. The fines levied on Royal Caribbean in the late 1990s and early 2000s may exceed the $40 million that Princess has agreed to pay, when adjusted for inflation.  At the time, one Federal official referred to the company as having a ”culture of crime.” Whatever changes Royal Caribbean may or may not have made in their operations, clearly it appears that, in the case of Princess Cruise Line, that description may indeed also apply.