A cruise ship full of passengers was arrested in Canada’s Baffin Island in early August. After the arrest in Nunavut’s capital Iqaluit on August 9, the cruise ship RCGS Resolute was detained briefly but let off within a few hours.

RCGS Resolute was facing a claim of about CAD 100,000 (US$ 75,150) to settle. According to cruise news, Nova Scotia ship's agency Atship Services had claims on the arrested ship.

According to reports, the cruise ship’s arrest followed a warrant received at the Nunavut sheriff's office from the Federal Court in Halifax requesting its immediate execution.

The claim said the cruise company was one of the defendants that owed CA$100,000 to Atship Services Ltd. The allegations have to be proved in court.

The cruise ship had received the title “Royal Canadian Geographical Ship” a few years ago.

Thomas Peyton, acting manager of sheriffs for the Nunavut Court of Justice said the sheriff's office was contacted on August 8.

The sheriffs went to the docks the next day and served the documents to the captain. They restrained the ship’s movement until further court orders.

A few hours later, the sheriffs received a directive asking to release RCGS Resolute and allow its forward journey, Peyton said.

During the arrest, passengers had the freedom to move in and out of the ship.

Rare incident

Judicial arrests after disputes on payment are a commonplace in merchant shipping, especially in hubs like Singapore, but arrests are very rare with cruise ships especially in near-Arctic latitudes, according to industry observers.

One Ocean Expeditions, a British Columbia-based cruise company operates Resolute.

Currently, Resolute is operating in a remote fjord in Greenland. The upcoming itinerary includes a cruise of Greenland and eastern Northwest Passage from August 31.

One Ocean used to offer sailings aboard the Russian research vessels Akademik Sergey Vavilov and Akademik Ioffe as well. But the owner, Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences recently withdrew the vessels from service, according to One Ocean.

Curb grey water dumping by cruise ships

Meanwhile, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada urged Transport Canada to enforce regulations to control the indiscriminate dumping of marine greywater.

The study carried out by Vancouver’s Vard Marine noted that noted cruise ships discharged maximum greywater amounting to 1.37 billion liters.

Greywater covers wastewater from sinks, bathtubs, laundry machines, shower stalls and dishwashers except sewage and drainage coming from workshop areas.

“Part of this is about Transport Canada putting the right rules in place to deal with this waste stream,” said the WWF’s Andrew Dumbrille.

He said the current regulations only suggest treating greywater through a marine sanitation device and discharging when the ship is beyond three nautical miles of land.

Dumbrille said since cruise ship traffic is increasing along with other nautical traffic, and is important to determine where the waste streams will end up.