Pollution & Environmental Damage

This past week, the Carnival Freedom cruise ship was photographed belching thick black smoke while arriving in George Town, Grand Cayman.

The photograph was taken by an individual who wishes to remain anonymous.

It was taken on Tuesday, October 29th. The twelve-year old Carnival ship left Galveston, Texas on the evening of October 27th and

Cruise ships are a major source of air pollution which causes and/or contributes to a wide range of serious health problems such as respiratory ailments, lung disease, cancer and premature deaths. The pollutants from ship engines exhaust gases include sulfer oxides(SOx) as well as non-combustible particulate matter and black carbon. A video of a Carnival

The State of Alaska yesterday fined Holland America Line (HAL) around $17,000 for dumping untreated grey water from one of its cruise ships.

NPR reported that HAL’s Westerdam cruise ship was visiting the national park a year ago, on September 11, 2018, when a crew member illegally discharged grey water.  Details of the illegal dumping

Today a resident of Alaska notified me that there are videos posted on Facebook showing the M/S Eurodam continuing to proceed toward a group of whales feeding in the water ahead of it as the Holland America Cruise Ship (HAL) cruise ship headed toward Juneau.

A smaller vessel reportedly radioed the bridge of the Eurodam

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), from 2003 to around 2013, engineers on the Caribbean Princess, Star Princess, Grand Princess, Coral Princess and Golden Princess by-passed the oil-water separators (OWS) and released oily substances into the oceans. These employees of Princess Cruises used a number of techniques, including the so-called “magic pipes” and

Today a group of victims of Carnival Corporation’s environmental crimes sought to vacate the Court’s approval of an out of court settlement reached between the U.S. Government and Carnival Corporation.

The attorney for Fotini Duncombe (a Bahamian citizen and co-founder of a Bahamas Environmental group called “reEarth”), Theodore Thoma (the head of a environmental group

Representatives of Carnival Corporation (“Carnival”) appeared in Miami federal court yesterday for a hearing on a proposed resolution of new pollution charges pending against the giant cruise company. The federal court judge, Patricia Seitz, accepted the settlement deal recently reached between the U.S. Government and Carnival, which the parties filed into the court record literally

The MSC Opera  smashed into a dock located on the Giudecca canal in Venice this morning. Tugs could not maintain control of the MSC cruise ship as it violently struck the dock and then struck the stern of the River Countess (a river cruise ship) which was docked and disembarking passengers, as shown in a

Yesterday a lawyer from Seattle Washington filed a motion on behalf of three victims of Carnival’s pollution seeking status under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CVRA).  Seattle attorney Knoll Lowney argues that his three clients, all affected by Princess Cruise Line’s and its parent Carnival Corporation’s pollution, want more transparency in the case.

The victims’

On Friday, May 24th, United District Court Judge Patricia Seitz, who is presiding over the pollution case pending against Princess Cruises, ordered all members of the Carnival Corporation & plc Executive Committee of the Board of Directors to appear at a hearing scheduled for June 3, 2019 at the federal courthouse in Miami.

The hearing

Today, the Court presiding over the Carnival pollution case styled U.S. v. Princess Cruise Lines case no. 16-20897-SEITZ scheduled a status conference for May 24th at which time the Court will schedule the exact date, during the week of June 17, 2019, when the revocation hearing will begin.

The Court previously entered an order of

Today, the Federal District Court presiding over the pollution case against Princess Cruises ordered the public filing of several reports issued by the Court Appointed Monitor (“CAM”).  The Miami Herald, which previously filed a motion to intervene into this case, requested that the Court order that the CAM’s quarterly reports for the past year be

About two weeks ago, I posted the following question on our Cruise Law News Facebook page and received comments (and replies) from 364 people.

What do you believe is an appropriate sanction against Carnival Corp. for violating probation for pollution?

A. Imprison Carnival’s senior executives.
B. Bar Carnival Corp’s ships from U.S. ports.
C. A

newspaper in the Bahamas recently covered the news regarding Miami federal district judge Patricia Seitz threatening to temporarily ban Carnival-owned cruise ships from calling on U.S. ports.

The Tribune newspaper in Nassau points out that Carnival is building what it describes as a $100-million mega cruise port in Grand Bahama, and the company “promised

Calling Carnival Corporation a “criminal defendant,” United States Federal District Judge Patricia Seitz threatened to send the  “members of Carnival’s executive committee” to a “detention center for a couple of days” for violation of the terms of its probation for environmental crimes, according to the Miami Herald.  The newspaper also reported that the Court

This past week, I received information from a reader of Cruise Law News who lives in Bergen Norway. He explained that the Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) is using drones equipped with measuring instruments to test sulphur levels in ship emissions.

There is an article in the Maritime Authority’s latest publication, Navigare, regarding this