Greek shipowner nets $2 million penalty

Tanker crewman handed over video proof of illegal oily bilge discharge to U.S. Coast Guard inspectors.    The Justice Department said Navimax Corp., a Marshall Islands company with its main offices in Greece, will pay a $2 million fine for conducting illegal oily bilge discharges into the sea.
   When the Navimax tanker Nave Cielo was boarded by Coast Guard inspectors at Delaware City on Dec. 7, 2017, a crewman handed over a thumb drive containing two videos showing a high-volume discharge of oily bilged exiting a 5-inch pipe in the ship’s hull. 
   The videos were recorded by the Nave Cielo crewman on Nov. 2, 2017, after the ship departed New Orleans for Belgium and not recorded in the ship’s oil records, a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. 
   “The conviction and criminal fine, reinforced by a four-year term of probation, during which the defendant’s fleet of ships will be monitored, ensures that defendant is held accountable,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David C. Weiss in a statement on Wednesday.