Princess Cruise Lines was recently hit with a 40 MILLION DOLLAR fine after pleading guilty to seven federal charges in a pollution case that involved use of a so-called “magic pipe” to divert oily waste (and who knows what else) into the oceans.
Seems the practice came to light when a concerned engineer aboard the Caribbean Princess “blew the whistle” after discovering the illegal practice (that incidentally was later found to have been in use aboard four other Princess ships). Princess had even gone so far as to use clean ocean water to fool onboard sensors that would have otherwise detected the improper dumping of contaminated bilge water.
An attorney for the Justice department’s environmental division said that Princess Cruise Lines “violated the law, covered it up, and lied about it.”
Of course, Princess executives threw their employees overboard in their claim that they were “extremely disappointed” in the now-fired employees who had violated company policy and federal law. Adding that “although we had proper procedures in place, they were apparently ineffective.”
Spare me! Court documents show another Princess ship had been illegally discharging oily waste since 2005 and the “suits” knew nothing? Guess they knew nothing about the three other Princess ships found to have been doing the same.
Now, not only has Princess been hit with the largest fine in history, but it’s parent company Carnival (the world’s largest cruise operator) to submit 78 ships across its eight brands to a five-year environmental compliance program overseen by a federal judge.
Why would a successful company take such a risk? The answer is easy. GREED!