Cruise Line Admits It Dumped Waste at Sea

Royal Caribbean Cruises pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to three felony charges of making false statements to the Coast Guard about the discharge of oily waste water at sea.

The Miami-based cruise line, one of the world’s largest, faces fines of up to $1.5 million for the fabrication of a pollution treatment logbook by crew members of the luxury ship Nordic Prince.

U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall will impose a penalty at a sentencing hearing June 28.

Under the federal Clean Water Act, large vessels are required to maintain records showing that bilge water, usually contaminated by engine oil drippings, is properly treated before being dumped overboard.

According to a federal indictment returned last month, Nordic Prince crew members showed Coast Guard inspectors faked pollution treatment reports during three stopovers at the Port of Los Angeles in 1994.

In fact, the indictment said, the vessel’s anti-pollution equipment was not in operation.

Assistant U.S. Atty. William Carter said Monday that the Nordic Prince’s log was a “fairy tale book” containing fabricated entries for many voyages.

The Nordic Prince, which has since been sold to another cruise operator, plied the seas between Los Angeles and Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska as part of the Royal Caribbean fleet. At each U.S. port, the crew was required to show its “oil record book” to Coast Guard inspectors.

Last June, Royal Caribbean paid $9 million in fines after pleading guilty in Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico, to illegal dumping and the submission of false records by five of its vessels, including the Nordic Prince, between 1990 and 1994.

Royal Caribbean admitted in that case that the ships were equipped with makeshift pipes to bypass the anti-pollution process and dump contaminated bilge water directly overboard.

That case represented the largest criminal prosecution involving ocean pollution by a passenger liner.

Carter said Monday that the investigation of Royal Caribbean is continuing in Alaska and New York.

Entering a guilty plea on behalf of Royal Caribbean, defense lawyer Jan Lawrence Handzlik told the judge that the company knowingly made the false statements alleged in the indictment.

A cruise line spokeswoman in Miami said the decision to plead guilty was consistent with the company’s guilty pleas last year in Miami and San Juan.

“These are offenses to which we have already pleaded guilty, for which he have apologized, paid a $9-million fine and instituted the most thorough compliance program anywhere,” said spokeswoman Lynn Martenstein.

In the Miami and San Juan cases, Royal Caribbean’s lawyers initially argued that the company was not obligated to provide records to the Coast Guard because it is incorporated in Liberia. A judge rejected that argument and Royal Caribbean subsequently pleaded guilty.