Capital Ship Management and two crew members aboard one of its ship are facing charges after allegedly dumping oil at sea repeatedly last year.
Ioan Luca and Ionel Surla, chief engineers aboard the 115,590-dwt CMA CGM Amazon (built 2015) last year, directed crew members to reroute oily bilge water into a different tank used to collect condensation from the engine's air cooler, according to an indictment obtained by TradeWinds.
The redirection allegedly allowed the CMA CGM Amazon to dump contaminated water at sea and the discharges were not recorded in the ship's oil record book.
The indictment says there were several discharges from July 2018 to December 2018. The ship was arrested at the Port of Los Angeles after a US Coast Guard inspection 11 January 2019.
Luca, the chief engineer from October 2018 until January 2018 after Surla's tenure beginning May 2018, allegedly hid the pumps and hoses and told crew members to lie about the discharges.
Capital, Luca and Surla are being charged with conspiracy to fail to maintain an accurate oil record book and failing to maintain an oil record book.
Luca and Capital are facing additional charges of falsification of records in a matter of federal administration, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
Capital Product Partners, which owns the CMA CGM Amazon and is a sister company of Capital Ship Management, did not immediately return requests for comment.
