‘Hefty fine for cruise ship pollution’:

French prosecutors called for a 100,000euro fine against a US cruise ship captain and the vessel’s owners for having deliberately flouted European air pollution limits.

The company “...wanted to save money at the expense of everyone’s lungs, in the context of major air pollution, caused partly by cruise ships,” prosecutor Franck Lagier told the court in Marseille.

A spot check of The Azura in March found it was burning bunker fuel containing 1.68 percent sulphur, above the 1.5-percent European limit.

The ship’s captain, Evans Hoyt, knew perfectly well that the fuel he had filled up with in Barcelona was illegal, said the prosecutor.

Owners Carnival had simply not wanted to respect the law, and they should pay 80,000 euros ($92,000) of the fine, said the prosecutor.

Lawyers for Carnival argued that the strictest laws on pollution were reserved for passenger ships using a regular route and so did not apply to the Azura. The court will delivers its verdict on Nov 26.

The UN’s International Maritime Organization under its secretary-general Kitack Lim has been lowering the allowed sulphur levels in ships for years, with a new limit of 0.5 percent coming into force in 2020.

But the NGO France Nature Environnement, one of the plaintiffs on the civil side of this case, says the new maximum is still too high. (AFP)