Carnival to pay extra $1m fine for environment crimes

CARNIVAL’s Princess Cruise Lines Ltd has agreed to pay a $1m fine on top of a $20m penalty it received two years ago after pleading guilty to violating its probation for environmental related crimes.

Carnival paid a $40m fine in 2016 after admitting to dumping waste into the ocean and covering it up. As part of the settlement the company was required to serve a five-year probation and be supervised by a court-appointed monitor. The monitor’s reports for the first two years of the probation period showed Carnival ships dumped 66,000 gallons of ballast waters and hundreds of thousands of gallons of treated sewage and food waste in Bahamian waters.

Federal prosecutors ultimately accused the company of six violations of its Environmental Compliance Plan, including discharging plastic mixed with food waste into Bahamian waters. In 2019, US District Court Judge Patricia Seitz approved a settlement agreement between the cruise line and prosecutors that would see Carnival pay a $20m fine and undergo enhanced inspections because of the violations.

The Miami Herald reported this month that Princess failed to establish an independent investigative office, which was a condition of the company’s probation.

US Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida said in the statement: “Just like individual defendants, corporate defendants must also comply with court orders. They are not above the law.”

He added: “The corporate defendant here ignored the court, choosing instead to thwart the compliance plan that was put in place to protect our environment. As this probation violation proceeding demonstrates, the government will not tolerate defendant’s blatant violation of court orders.”

According to The Miami Herald, last October an independent third-party auditor and the court-appointed monitor sent a letter to a federal judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida saying Carnival’s repeated failure to abide by the rules of its probation, “reflects a deeper barrier: a culture that seeks to minimise or avoid information that is negative, uncomfortable, or threatening to the company, including to top leadership.”

A spokesperson for Carnival told the Herald the company is working in good faith through its probation to improve internal investigations.

“Our top priority is compliance, environmental protection and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, crew members, shoreside employees and the people in the communities we visit,” the spokesperson said.

Comments

ThisIsOurs says...

"*The corporate defendant here ignored the court, choosing instead to thwart the compliance plan that was put in place to protect our environment. As this probation violation proceeding demonstrates, the government will not tolerate defendant’s blatant violation of court orders.*

A 40m fine for dumping in OUR waters would pay for the baseball stadium.

Posted 1 February 2022, 7:36 p.m. Suggest removal

JohnBrown1834 says...

That was paid to the US government. We do not have the balls to charge them.

Posted 2 February 2022, 1:40 a.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

Yeah I know. Was saying if we had proper controls, if we didn't let them do whatever they want it would pay for a baseball stadium. Its laughable really our response to this was to enact legislation to say absolutely positively under no circumstances would dumping be allowed... unless they asked. And yiu can imagine how that conversation would go... *tuition at Stanford is expensive*... 4wks later:... *yes we knew they dumped they were given permission the law allows it*

Posted 2 February 2022, 5:31 a.m. Suggest removal

tribanon says...

When you consider the immense and massive tonnage of refuse, contaminants and shiit dumped by Carnival in our territorial waters over many decades, our government could easily justify a fine against Carnival well over $100 million. But even this would not stop Carnival from continuing to abuse our environment in the most terrible of ways. They really need to be banned from our seas, period. The same applies to Royal Caribbean.

The bilge and scupper systems on these gargantuan filthy floating hotels have over the decades poisoned the waters around Nassau Harbour and Arawak Cay. This is the reason why every summer in recent years we have had to deal with serious health issues arising from people eating poisonous conch that were kept alive in the seawater in these areas.

Posted 2 February 2022, 9:15 a.m. Suggest removal

Emilio26 says...

Tribanon I guess you'll advocate for these million dollar yachts that sail in and out of Albany, Lyford Cay, Old Fort Bay & Paradise Island to banned as well.

Posted 2 February 2022, 3:59 p.m. Suggest removal

tribanon says...

ZZZZZzzzzzz.....

Posted 3 February 2022, 10:09 a.m. Suggest removal

John says...

Should have been at least $30million fine paid to The Bahamas government. Carnival is a blatant and repeat offender who app so does not intend to mend its ways. The benefits of breaking the laws far outweigh the fines levied against Carnival, when they are caught and fined. And local fishermen have confirmed that the quality of all seafood ,including conch and lobster, had improved tremendously during the two year absence of crud ships.

Posted 2 February 2022, 4:23 a.m. Suggest removal

DWW says...

the ahamas has probably more lawyers per capita than anywhere else in the world. but it is not a real place

Posted 2 February 2022, 8:22 a.m. Suggest removal

bahamianson says...

Drop in the bucket. Carnival should pay 100,000 million for such an atrocious crime. They intentionally dumped garbage in our waters. Our waters is our bloodline . You destroy our bloodline, you destroy a country.

Posted 2 February 2022, 8:40 a.m. Suggest removal

moncurcool says...

A Bahamian registered ship gets fine by a foreign government for dumping in Bahamian waters and the Bahamian government does not get 5 cents? Can not make this up.

Posted 2 February 2022, 8:47 a.m. Suggest removal

tribanon says...

Bingo!

Posted 2 February 2022, 10:31 a.m. Suggest removal

mandela says...

Is there anyone monitoring what the cruise lines are doing around their private islands throughout the Bahamas?

Posted 2 February 2022, 11:35 a.m. Suggest removal

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