P&O Cruises, as part of its normal operations, from time to time lands dry garbage in Port Vila into the custody of a local contractor who disposes of it at a Port Vila Municipal waste facility where a disposal fee is paid. This procedure is overseen by the Vanuatu Quarantine and Inspection Service and is in full compliance with local and international law.
P&O Cruises has a long standing policy of landing oily water and oil residue in Australia or New Zealand under the normal regulatory framework and not landing it in Vanuatu. P&O Cruises’ management recently identified that, as a result of a change to our turnaround terminal in Brisbane, this policy had not been followed on five separate occasions and unfortunately oil residue was landed in Port Vila.
We took immediate action to ensure that there would be no further landings in Vanuatu and the landings are now again being made in Australia in accordance with our long standing policies.
We followed up this issue and subsequently determined that the waste had been disposed of inappropriately at the sewage disposal area of the Port Vila Municipal waste facility.
P&O Cruises, together with local Government officials, formulated an action plan for the removal and isolation of the oil residue from the original site. Our Agent has undertaken the relocation of the waste to an adjacent settling pit and has agreed this remedial action with local authorities with whom we will continue to cooperate.
We regret the landing of the oil residue which was against our long standing company policy and extend our apologies to the local Community.