Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd. a $3 million fine for pollution.

A US federal judge this week fined the firm for the illegal discharge of oil waste and pollutants in New York City Harbour in 1994 and 1995.

Company vice president Lynn Martinstein admitted Bermuda caller the Nordic Empress was one of the offending ships.

But she pointed out that all the company's ships had been refitted and the company now had a different senior management team.

She also said the offences dated back to 1994 and none had occurred in Bermuda.

The company had pleaded guilty to the charges in New York as part of an $18 million deal reached with six different judicial districts. If approved by judges in the other districts, the $18 million fine will be the largest ever paid in a case involving cruise ships.

The sentence grows out of the broader agreement in which Royal Caribbean pleaded guilty to a total of 21 environmental offences in the different judicial districts. In addition to New York, the company has entered pleas in federal courts in California, Florida, Alaska, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

ENVIRONMENT ENV