General cargo ship chief engineer convicted of MARRPOL violations and ship management fined.

A general cargo ship’s chief engineer has been convicted of MARPOL (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) violations by a US jury and faces potential jail time. Meanwhile, the ship’s management company, Interunity Management, pleaded guilty to a felony violation and is being fined and placed under supervision. The case is unusual because the vessel’s crew reported the chief engineer’s actions to the US Coast Guard, with evidence of the ship manager’s complicity in the violations.

According to court papers from the Southern District of California, the US Coast Guard received an email on 27 May 2022 from the second engineer aboard the Donald, a 12,767 dwt general cargo ship inbound for San Diego, California. The email informed the US Coast Guard that the chief engineer had ordered the pumping of oily bilge water directly to the sewage tanks and then discharged it into the ocean. A video recorded by the second engineer reportedly shows the chief engineer trying to clean the sewage tank and check for oil residue. Several crew members corroborated the second engineer’s report during a subsequent USCG inspection.

The Donald arrived in San Diego on 31 May for a scheduled port state inspection by the US Coast Guard. The inspection revealed the oil record book had no entries between 2 March and 24 May 2022, with a few entries at the end of May. Records showed the high-level engine room bilge alarms had sounded multiple times during those dates. Further investigation revealed emails between senior crew members and shoreside managers giving instructions on how to cover up possible evidence of oil discharges, including telling the crew to discard any handwritten notes after correcting the oil record book and empty and clean the sewage tank, recording the activity as “routine cleaning” in the log. The chief engineer was convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction, and failure to maintain an accurate oil record book for the Donald. Interunity Management pleaded guilty to a felony violation for failing to accurately maintain the Donald’s oil record book and was fined $1.25m and placed under four years’ probation, during which any vessels operated by the company and calling on US ports will be required to implement an Environmental Compliance Plan submitted as part of the plea.

Source .