Carnival PLC has been fined to the tune of $15,000 by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) as one of its P&O Cruise ships, the Pacific Jewel, failed to comply with the recent low sulfur fuel regulations that came into force in October 1, 2015. According to the regulations cruise ships when berthed in Sydney Harbour have to use low sulfur fuel within one hour of berthing until one hour before departure.
EPA Acting Director Metropolitan Greg Sheehy said that the EPA had also issued an official caution to the ship’s master.
“The ship’s crew had started changing over from using high sulfur fuel shortly after the ship had berthed at White Bay, but the sample showed that the fuel being used in the ship’s engine during the EPA’s inspection did not meet the low sulfur fuel requirements,” Mr Sheehy said.
“The EPA has taken a further three samples from the Pacific Jewel since the February 26, and all have complied,” he said.
Appeal
Carnival Australia has disagreed with NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and has appealed against the finding. It has also called the EPA to review the penalty notice citing reasons that it had failed to look into the technical information that was available which could have proved that the ship had completed the changeover to low sulfur fuel within the stipulated time duration.
Carnival Australia emphasized that it had complied to the regulatory requirements wherever it was operating its cruise ships. It also maintained that Pacific Jewel was using low sulfur fuel as per the given requirement while berthed at White Bay Cruise Terminal.
Some of the important facts that accounts for the company’s appeal are as follows:
- Pacific Jewel’s transfer to low sulfur fuel was conducted in compliance with the new regulatory regime for Sydney Harbour
- The fuel transfer was fully documented on board the ship
- The single fuel sample submitted to the EPA for testing did not properly reflect Pacific Jewel’s successful transition to low sulfur fuel on the day in question and this has resulted in a wrong outcome.
- The EPA had also not taken into account a number of other significant technical indicators that would have confirmed the ship was using low sulfur fuel, said the company.
- There needed to be confidence in the process, and it was particularly concerned about the time taken for the EPA to analyze fuel samples, which in Pacific Jewel’s case had amounted to some 20 days.
At present due to the delay in the process and its commitment to regulatory compliance, Carnival Australia is testing its ship fuels independently to make sure that the company is adhering to the low sulfur fuel requirement.
After the inception of the current low sulfur fuel regulations from October 1, 2015, the EAP has till date inspected nearly 140 cruise ships, taken 78 fuel samples from engine fuel lines, inspected log books and changeover records and also observed stack emissions. It is a clear indication that the EAP is tightening the noose and is taking every chance to ensure that ships are complying with new regulations.
Source: NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA)
