Princess Cruise Lines will plead guilty and pay a $40 million penalty for dumping oily waste into the ocean, a record fine under the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS). An engineer served as whistleblower in the case, informing British authorities about the ship’s oil disposal practices.
One of the Princess ships reportedly used a “magic pipe” to bypass equipment designed to limit ocean pollution. The investigation revealed illegal discharges since 2005. Other ships were engaged in other practices, such as putting salt water in to prevent the oil detection alarm from sounding and discharging oily bilge water when the storage tanks overflowed.
Whistleblowers are a key ingredient in the detection and reporting to authorities of oil dumping from ships into the ocean in contravention of APPS. Rewards can reach up to 50% of the fines collected under the ocean whistleblower law.
For a free, confidential consultation concerning reporting illegal oil dumping by a ship, please call 1-800-590-4116.