Today I received a link to an article in Brazil regarding the allegations of a cruise passenger sailing on a MSC cruise ship (The MSC Magnifica) that the crew members were dumping garbage bags into Brazilian waters.
A local blogger in Brazil posted the embarrassing news and MSC, in turn, complained to its public
The Gazzetta del Sud newspaper reports that government officials in Rome, Italy ordered a halt to large cruise ships passing through the Venice lagoon, effective November 2014. The outright ban on cruise ships applies to those ships over 96,000 tons. (The Costa Concordia is 114,500 tons).
The legislation comes after years of debate and highly charged
Newspapers are reporting that today the residents of Venice will protest the procession of over a dozen cruise ships which will sail through St Mark’s Basin. The Guardian states that a canal-bank protest is scheduled "over an invasion of up to 13 cruise ships in the space of 24 hours which . . . will turn
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A local CBS news station (WBZ) in Boston reports that although cruising is a popular vacation, there are significant environmental downsides. The massive cruise ships burn the dirtiest type of fuel in the world, even when they’re sitting in port.
There are schools, playgrounds and residences in the neighborhoods which surrounds the port in Boston.
Want some some zinc, nickel and copper in your Alaskan salmon? Well, now you can.
Today the Republican controlled Alaska Senate voted 14 to 6 to approve a law proposed by Governor Parnell to abolish cruise ship wastewater standards enacted in 2006.
The Anchorage Daily News reports that the new law will allow the cruise
Governor Parnell and the pro-cruise pollution legislators in Alaska have some new talking points in their efforts to weaken the cruise line waste water restrictions. They say that its not the cruise sewage that will harm the state’s image but their opponents’ "hype" that easing the standards will result in "dirty water and terrible discharges."
In 2006, Alaskan citizens sent a clear message to the cruise industry that cruise ships could not treat the beautiful waters of Alaska like a toilet.
Seven years ago Alaskan voters approved legislation that prohibited cruise ships from discharging "untreated sewage, treated sewage, graywater or other wastewaters in a manner that violates any applicable
The Smart Planet blog has an interesting article about the effects of the ever growing cruise industry upon ports in Asia.
Entitled Hong Kong Contends with Pollution from a Growing Cruise Industry, the article reveals the extent to which cruise lines are still burning bunker fuel while not even equipping their ships with the
KTOO news station in Alaska reports today that the Environmental Protection Agency fined Princess Cruises $20,000 for dumping water from six swimming pools aboard the Golden Princess cruise ship into Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in 2011.
The EPA announced the fine against the cruise line yesterday.
Princess was forced to sign a consent agreement
The Panama-flagged and Italian-operated container ship MSC Eugenia leaked oil while leaving Freeport Harbor in the Grand Bahama island en route to Port Everglades earlier in the week. The ship returned to the port and berthed. Reportedly more than 10 tons of oil has leaked, although the source of the leak has not been disclosed.
The "environmental report card" for the cruise industry is out and the grades for some of the major cruise lines are ugly.
Costa, Crystal and P&O Cruises all received failed grades on the report card prepared by the highly respected environmental group Friends of the Earth ("FOE"). The non-profit organization analysis the cruise lines’ environmental
Do you know this former Royal Caribbean crew member?
He’s on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s "Most Wanted" List. Here’s the story:
In 1993, Michael Evangelos Psomadakis was the chief engineer aboard RCCL’s Nordic Empress cruise ship which routinely discharged oil into the water. But the Nordic Empress was no island to itself. RCCL’s
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Today I read an interesting case analysis from the Journal of Business Case Studies (May/June 2012), which studied the business model of the second largest cruise company in the world, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.
The article is entitled "Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.: Innovation At A Cost?" (click on the pdf link)
The article
In one of the first articles published in the cruise industry’s new blog, entitled "Sailing with Respect," the cruise lines pitched themselves as leaders of the marine environment. CLIA CEO Christine Duffy proclaimed that:
"As an industry, we are extremely committed to protecting the waters and surrounding environments where we operate to preserve
Five years ago, the Bush administration proposed legislation prohibiting the use of maritime fuels with high sulfur content within 200 miles of the U.S. The Obama administration had the bill passed into law. In turn, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced that it planned to create a buffer zone around the U.S. and Canada where
I have written about Royal Caribbean’s new port development in the town of Falmouth Jamaica before. It seems to me that the new development for the cruise line perpetuates the historical master (cruise line) – servant (Jamaica) relationship which continues to exploit the Jamaican people.
My tour of Falmouth reinforced those beliefs. Most of the
A couple of years ago I blogged about the nastiest fuel on the planet – bunker fuel. It’s the dredge at the bottom of oil refineries, a nasty tar like substance which is impossible to be completely burned. It leaves non-combustible particles that blacken the sky and, if inhaled, cause lung disease, cancer, asthma
A Cruise Law News reader has alerted us to a major engine problem for the Saga Sapphire cruise ship which has broken down during a cruise through Norway. A passenger aboard the stricken cruise ship writes:
"The Saga Sapphire is currently struck with motor-problems again – this time whilst on a Norwegian Cruise – and
