The COVID-19 pandemic is complicating Carnival Corporation’s environmental compliance.
At a status conference Wednesday, company CEO Arnold Donald and Chairman Micky Arison reassured Miami federal judge Patricia Seitz that they remain committed to environmental stewardship but said their efforts have been hampered by COVID-related logistical problems. The company continues to violate environmental laws regularly during its fourth year on probation for crimes it committed from 2005-2013.
“We are working very hard to continue to improve,” said Donald.
The company has long found it difficult to replace missing parts in pollution prevention equipment in a timely manner — a problem made more challenging by COVID-19 restrictions on crew travel. According to an order Seitz issued in October, Carnival Corp. must notify the court about the status of a ship’s environmental compliance before bringing it back into U.S. waters.
Carnival Corp. removed all of its ships from U.S. waters in June — in part due to a disagreement with the CDC about how best to mitigate COVID-19 spread among crew — and began bringing some vessels back in November. The company now has 30, soon to be 31, ships in U.S. waters, where it is easier to service the ships, said Chief Maritime Officer Bill Burke, a retired vice admiral.
Burke said the company doesn’t have plans to bring more ships to U.S. waters in the foreseeable future as U.S. cruises remain canceled on its brands at least through April 30.
To address ongoing illegal discharges of substances like sewage and soot into the ocean, Seitz reiterated that the company needs to beef up its internal investigation department, now headed by new deputy chief ethics and compliance officer Peter Hutchinson. The court has repeatedly found the department to be understaffed and ineffective.
Seitz said she is confident that Hutchinson’s leadership can get to the root cause of its repeated environmental violations and improve compliance.
“I don’t want to see you all back in federal court again in this capacity,” she said. “This is a tool to provide that kind of protection. I for the first time have a sense of real hope that the company will get its arms around this critical issue.”
