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U.S. cruise company fined 40 mln USD for pollution off English coast

Xinhua, December 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) reported here Thursday that Florida-based Princess Cruise Lines has been fined for 40 million U.S. dollars for deliberate pollution.

The MCA said in a statement it worked with the U.S. Coast Guard and the United States Attorney's Office to investigate a serious incident of deliberate pollution of the seas by the cruise-line.

"The case began after a British engineer working on one of the company's vessels reported the matter to the Maritime & Coastguard Agency when the ship called at Southampton, England," said an MCA spokesman.

The United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida said in a statement released on Thursday that Princess Cruise Lines has to pay 40 million U.S. dollars. Princess Cruise Lines agreed to plead guilty to seven felony charges stemming from its deliberate pollution of the seas and intentional acts to cover it up, said the official statement.

The plea agreement was announced Thursday in Miami. Princess Cruise Lines, headquartered in Santa Clarita, California, is a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival Corporation, which owns and operates multiple cruise lines.

As part of the plea agreement with Princess, cruise ships from eight Carnival cruise line companies will be under a court supervised Environmental Compliance Program (ECP) for five years.

The investigation was initiated after information was provided to the U.S. Coast Guard by the MCA that a newly hired engineer on the Caribbean Princess reported that a so-called "magic pipe" had been used on Aug. 23, 2013, to illegally discharge oily waste off the coast of England.

The whistleblowing engineer quit his position when the ship reached Southampton, England. The official statement said the chief engineer and senior first engineer ordered a cover-up, including removal of the magic pipe and directing subordinates to lie.

The MCA shared evidence with the U.S. Coast Guard, including before and after photos of the bypass used to make the discharge and showing its disappearance.

"The U.S. Coast Guard conducted an examination of the Caribbean Princess upon its arrival in New York City, New York, on Sept. 14, 2013, during which certain crew members continued to lie in accordance with orders they had received from Princess employees," added the statement.

It said: "According to papers filed in court, the Caribbean Princess had been making illegal discharges through bypass equipment since 2005, one year after the ship began operations. The discharge on Aug. 26, 2013, involved approximately 4,227 gallons, 23 miles off the coast of England within the country's Exclusive Economic Zone." Endit