Cruise Ship Company Fined
February 8th, 2010
A Massachusetts cruise ship company has been fined $300,000 and ordered to publish apologies in regional newspapers after pleading guilty to dumping raw sewage from its boats into a Massachusetts river and coastal waters. Marblehead-based Rockmore Co. Inc. was also placed on a three-year probation on Monday after prosecutors alleged that crew members for two of its vessels routinely pumped hundreds of gallons of raw sewage directly overboard or allowed holding tanks to overflow and spill contents into the ocean. The sewage was dumped in Salem Harbor, off beaches in Marblehead and Beverly, in the Charles River and elsewhere. In a deal with federal prosecutors, the company agreed to report its activities to the U.S. Coast Guard. Rockmore's attorney Peter Ball says the company disputes many of the charges, but has put behind it all allegations.
