Liquimar Tankers Management Services has been convicted on charges related to dumping oil-contaminated bilge waste into the sea.
A federal jury in Wilmington, Delaware, also convicted shipowning affiliate Evridiki Navigation and chief engineer Nikolaos Vastardis.
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The verdict focuses on crimes committed to “conceal Vastardis’ deliberate bypassing of pollution prevention equipment” on the 167,000-dwt tanker Evridiki (built 2007) to dump the contaminated waste, the US Justice Department said.
The four counts included violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, which is the US law that covers the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).
The defendants were also convicted on charges falsifying ship’s documents, obstructing a US Coast Guard investigation and making false statements to the inspectors.
“This case demonstrates that those who pollute our oceans and deliberately mislead Coast Guard officials will be brought to justice,” said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert, of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
The case started during a Coast Guard inspection of the suezmax Evridiki on 11 March in the Big Stone Anchorage within Delaware Bay, where it was to deliver a crude cargo.
The Justice Department said that Vastardis operated the oily water separator on the Liberian-flag vessel using "unmonitored valves" that trapped fresh water inside the device's oil content monitor.
That allowed it to show zero oil content, but when Coast Guard inspectors opened the oily water separator, they found "copious amounts" of oil and soot.
"Today’s conviction highlights our dedication to working with the Department of Justice to investigate and successfully prosecute those who violate the law and pollute our oceans and waterways," said Coast Guard Rear Admiral Keith Smith.
Athens-based Liquimar could not be immediately reached for comment on the charges.
Challenging jurisdiction
But in July, the the company's lawyers had sought to persuade the judge to throw out the case on the grounds that it concerned acts that took place outside the jurisdiction of the US.
"This court should not countenance and should reject the repeated attempts by the United States government to ignore a comprehensive international enforcement regime predicated on cooperation by member nations, and replacement with the government’s own self-serving interpretation of the statutes and regulations, in an attempt to exercise jurisdiction and control over all vessels in the world," wrote Bruce Merrill and Chalos & Co principal George Chalos.
US District Court Judge Richard Andrews will determine sentencing at a later date.
Harry Papachristou contributed to this article
