Ship manager fined
Cooperative Success Maritime S.A., the operator of the 21,145-deadweight-ton tanker Chem Faros, pleaded guilty and was sentenced Monday in federal court for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), and to making material false statements, the Justice Department announced.
U.S. District Court Judge James C. Dever III for the Eastern District of North Carolina sentenced the company to pay a $850,000 penalty, of which $150,000 will be paid to the congressionally created National Fish and Wildlife Fund as a community service payment. The judge also sentenced the company to serve five years of probation, during which time they will implement an environmental compliance plan.
Federal and international law requires that all ships comply with pollution regulations requiring the proper disposal of oily waste water and sludge by passing the oily waste through an oil-water separator (OWS) aboard the vessel or burning the sludge in the ship's incinerator. Federal law also requires the ship's crew to accurately record each transfer or disposal of oily wastewater and sludge. These laws are designed to prevent pollution of ocean waters.
During a regular inspection of the ship on March 29 in Morehead City, N.C., an oiler with the engine crew passed a note to a U.S. Coast Guard inspector tipping it off to use of a “magic pipe” to discharge water.
The subsequent investigation revealed that from September 2009, through March 2010, engine department crewmembers pumped oil-contaminated waste directly overboard by using the pipe that bypassed the OWS on several occasions, up to 10 times according to some crewmembers.
Last month, the chief engineer of the ship pleaded guilty to violating the APPS.
Ship manager fined
