Greece's Sea World Management and Trading has said a master convicted in the US of oily waste dumping "acted unilaterally."
The company and master Edmon Fajardo pleaded guilty under a plea bargain agreement with the US department of justice (DoJ).
The charges were failing to accurately maintain the 46,000-dwt tanker Sea Faith’s (built 2003) oil record and garbage record books and illegally discharging oily waste and dumping garbage while operating off the coast of Texas in March last year.
Sea World said it accepted its position as manager of the vessel and employer of the master.
But it said that in illegally discharging oily water and garbage waste, Fajardo "acted unilaterally and in total contravention of the company’s policies in relation to the correct processing of cargo residues and machinery space bilge water and waste, together with the correct recording of all actions in the appropriate record books."
Rubbish chucked overboard
TradeWinds reported this week that Fajardo admitted he ordered crew members to throw plastics, empty steel drums, oily rags, batteries and empty paint cans into the ocean.
The company will pay a $2.25m fine and serve a three-year term of probation during which all company vessels calling at US ports must implement a robust environmental compliance plan.
Fajardo was sentenced to six months incarceration to be followed by two years supervised release and a $2,000 fine.
Sea World takes action
Since the allegations came to light in March 2017, the Laliotis group company has taken a number of specific actions to ensure its environmental policy is robustly monitored and strictly enforced across all its fleet, it said.
These include contracting the services of "one of the most reputable" US-based companies to carry out on-board voluntary environmental assessment and conformance audits (VEACAs).
Third-party forensic audits have also been undertaken and ship visits by both the management and superintendents have been made.
Sea World said the captain will leave the company after completing his sentence.
"Of the 21 complement of the Sea Faith, 12 crew members plus the captain have been held in the US since March," it added.
"Sea World Management is making strenuous efforts to ensure the 12 crew are repatriated to their homes with all possible speed."
