Empire Bulkers Limited and Joanna Maritime Limited, related companies based in Greece, pleaded guilty to breaches of the Ship Pollution Prevention Act and the Port and Waterway Safety Act in relation to the motor vessel Johanna, reports the official justice department of US.
Environmental and Safety Crimes
The guilty pleas were delivered today in federal court in New Orleans, Louisiana, before US District Court Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon. If the proposed defense agreement is approved by the court, the companies will be fined US$2 million (US$1 million each) and serve a four-year probationary period subject to the terms of an environmental compliance plan that is independent Ship inspections and supervision by an appointed court includes Monitor.
“Deliberate violations of environmental and safety laws pose a serious threat to U.S. ports and waters and to those who work on ships,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Division of Environment and Natural Resources. “These companies have knowingly engaged in dangerous and fraudulent misconduct that warrants consistent enforcement of the law.”
“This prosecution sends a clear and chilling message that those who cut corners and break the law will be vigorously prosecuted,” said US Attorney Duane Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “These companies will be under strict scrutiny going forward.”
Ship Owner and Operator charged
In their guilty plea, Empire Bulkers and Joanna Maritime admitted knowingly falsifying the ship’s oil book, a required record that concealed the discharge of oil-contaminated waste overboard in violation of MARPOL, an international treaty to which the United States is a party .
The criminal violation of the Ship Pollution Prevention Act was discovered by a U.S. Coast Guard inspector who noticed that a valve handle used to sample the oil content of overboard discharges failed during a March 2021 inspection in New Orleans Position was, thus, a joint statement of fact filed in court. A piece of metal found welded inside allowed discharges to occur overboard while the sample evaluated by the Oil Content Monitor was diluted with fresh water.
A Coast Guard advisory issued in 2008, as well as a notice from the monitor’s manufacturer, warned against this very method of tricking the oil content monitor. Discharges overboard are only acceptable if processed through an oil water separator and measured by the oil content monitor to contain an oil concentration of less than 15 parts per million (ppm) without dilution. The Oil Record Book entries related to discharges overboard submitted to the Coast Guard incorrectly indicated that discharges were from 15 ppm equipment. The shipowner and shipowner also acknowledged that the entries in the oil record book were co-signed by an engineer who had nothing to do with the operation or know of their accuracy.
The Coast Guard discovered an unreported security hazard during the same inspection. After the Coast Guard was on the ship, ship’s representatives requested permission to maneuver from the Bonnet Carre Anchorage to the CCI buoys further upstream where cargo operations were to take place. Coast Guard inspectors who accompanied the ship during the voyage noticed oil drips in the engine room. They followed the trail of oil that led near the cleaning room. Looking into the cleaner room, the Coast Guard discovered that the drain line had been disconnected from the pressure relief valves and pinched shut, deactivating both pressure relief valves.
The safety valves on fuel oil heaters perform a critical safety function as they can relieve pressure and divert oil to a waste oil tank. In documents filed in court, the defendants admitted that the plugging of the relief valves and the large volume of oil leaking from the pressure relief valve were dangerous conditions that had not been immediately reported to the Coast Guard in violation of the Port and Waterway Safety Act. Had there been a fire or explosion in the cleaner room, it could have been catastrophic, resulting in lost power, loss of life and environmental pollution, the statement of fact states.
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Source: US Department of Justice
