Stamatis Molaris-owned Empire Bulkers and related company Joanna Maritime have been fined $2m in a US bulker pollution case.
The Greek companies will pay $1m each for committing “knowing and wilful violations” of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and the Ports and Waterways Safety Act in March 2021, the Department of Justice said
They admitted tampering with pollution prevention equipment and failing to immediately report hazardous conditions on the Mississippi River in a case involving the 33,700-dwt Joanna (built 2010).
Empire was the operator and Joanna the owner. Empire has been contacted for comment.
The prosecution stemmed from an inspection in New Orleans.
Equipment had been altered so that fresh water could trick the sensor designed to detect the oil content of bilge waste being discharged overboard.
The ship’s oil record book had been falsified to conceal the improper discharges.
During the same inspection, the Coast Guard also discovered an unreported safety hazard: an active fuel oil leak in the engine room where the pressure relief valves on the fuel oil heaters, a critical safety device necessary to prevent explosion, had been disabled.
“In pleading guilty, the defendants admitted that the plugging of the relief valves in the fuel oil purifier room and the large volume of oil leaking from the pressure relief valve presented hazardous conditions that had not been immediately reported to the Coast Guard,” the department said.
“Had there been a fire or explosion in the purifier room, it could have been catastrophic and resulted in a loss of propulsion, loss of life, and pollution, according to a joint factual statement filed in court,” it added.
Engineer not guilty
The companies will also serve four years of probation in the US.
The department had earlier agreed to drop two charges related to obstruction of justice and of administrative proceedings.
“Make no mistake, willful tampering with required pollution control equipment and falsifying official ship logs to conceal illegal discharges are serious criminal offences,” said assistant attorney general Todd Kim.
In December, a New Orleans court found chief engineer Warlito Tan not guilty of four felony counts including pollution and obstruction of justice.
It was a rare win for a defendant in a US pollution case, and one in which federal judges rejected some of the prosecutors’ requests for subpoenas of crew members as “unreasonable and oppressive”.
The full acquittal for Tan came despite a guilty plea by the shipping company.
“There is no dispute that there was a modification of that equipment on the ship, but Tan did not put it there,” said defence attorney George Chalos, who, with his Chalos & Co colleague Briton Sparkman, represented the vessel interests.
