КЛУБ СУДОВЫХ МЕХАНИКОВ

 

---

Tanker Grounding Update
Friday, February 03, 2006

On behalf of the Unified Command, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) issued a Situation Report stating that the tanker Seabulk Pride grounded in Cook Inlet near Nikiski. No pollution was reported initially. The tanker was apparently pushed aground by an ice floe. A Second Situation Report states that several tugs and a response barge are being mobilized. A small amount of oil was spilled when the tanker was pushed away from its mooring by the ice. A Third Situation Report states that a towing and lightering plan is under development. A Fourth Situation Report indicates that two tugs are attending the tanker and more tugs are en route. Source: HK Law

Tanker Aground in Alaska
Thursday, February 02, 2006

According to a Reuters report, an oil tanker with 360,000 barrels capacity was struck by an ice floe and ran aground today while loading oil products at an Alaska refinery, citing a state official and the refining company.
According to the Reuters report, refinery owner Tesoro Corp. did not have an estimate of the amount of product released.
The Tesoro-chartered double-hulled tanker, the Seabulk Pride, was loading heavy vacuum gas oil and unleaded gasoline from the refinery in Nikiski, Alaska, on the Cook Inlet. The ship was reportedly aground about half a mile north of the dock, and the vessel's tanks were reported to be secure.

---

Court confirms pollution fine
THE Paris Court of Appeal has confirmed a Ђ200,000 ($270,000) fine against the captain and owner of the German-registered general cargo vessel Santa Maria for polluting the French coast in April 2003. Capt Friedhelm Letmeyer will have to pay Ђ40,000 of the total, the balance being borne by the vessel's German owner, H Lohmann Schiffahrts. The court decision confirms an earlier judgement made in February. The 3,670dwt Santa Maria was seen by a French customs helicopter with a 26n-mile oil slick in its wake as it was sailing northbound in the English Channel on 8 April 2003. When the ship arrived in Antwerp , police found that the vessel's oil/water separator was not in full working order. There were also suggestions of a possible unauthorised tank cleaning.
Lloyd's Register - Fairplay web links

---

Ship Management Company Fined $10M
Friday, February 03, 2006

The U.S. Department of Justice stated that a Hong Kong-based ship management company pled guilty and was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $10 million for engaging in conspiracy, obstruction of justice, false statements, and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. The company was also ordered to pay $500,000 for a program to provide environmental education to mariners visiting Massachusetts ports and inform them how to report environmental crimes to the U.S. Coast Guard. The conviction relates to using a by-pass pipe on a container ship to circumvent the oily water separator and to making false entries in the oil record book.

---

Captain and Chief arrested.
Posted by MIke on April 12, 2002, 3:23:41
65.35.176.82
Master and Chief Engineers Arrested
A Ship Captain and Chief Engineers of two foreign flag vessels have been arrested and charged with keeping false log books to conceal the dumping of waste oil and sludge from two ships, obstructing a Coast Guard investigation, and obstruction of justice for allegedly telling crew members to lie to a federal grand jury. Timothy M. Burgess, United States Attorney for Alaska and Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment Division of the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrests, supported by criminal complaints. The defendants are Doo Hyon Kim, the Captain of the M/V Khana, In Ho Kim, the Chief Engineer of the Khana, and Min Gwen Go, the Chief Engineer of the M/V Sohoh. A preliminary hearing was held today in U.S. District Court in Anchorage for Doo Hyon Kim. The other two defendants’ are scheduled for hearings tomorrow. According to the criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, the Khana and Sohoh are Panamanian flagged freighter vessels operated by a Korean company that carries frozen seafood to Asia. In February, the United States Coast Guard detained the Khana, the Sohoh, and two other freighters under common management, in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, for possible violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. During Coast Guard inspections, agency inspectors found oil laden bypass hoses on the two ships, which they believed were used to circumvent, or "bypass" the Oil Water Separator, a required pollution prevention device. Oil was found by the Coast Guard in the overboard discharge valve where only clean water would ordinarily be located. Special Agents from the United States Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation subsequently executed search warrants on the ships, according to documents filed in Court. According to the criminal complaint, not only was oil contaminated bilge waste and sludge dumped overboard without the use of the Oil Water Separator, but the Captain and Chief Engineers of the two ships held meetings at which the lower level crewmembers were told to lie. This allegedly took place even after the crew members had been served with grand jury subpoenas. Crewmembers on both ships identified rubber hoses with metal fittings attached on each end that were used to bypass the Oil Water Separator. The criminal complaints further allege that the defendants maintained false Oil Record Books, a required log in which all overboard discharges are to be recorded and which the Coast Guard relies upon. If convicted, the defendants could face up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 criminal fine (or up to twice the gross gain or loss from the crime) for the alleged false statements, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1001, and obstruction of an agency proceeding, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1505. The alleged obstruction of justice by ordering subpoenaed crew members to testify falsely, known as "witness tampering," in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1512 carries a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years. This matter is being investigated by the United States Coast Guard Criminal Investigative Service, the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigations Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for Alaska and the Environmental Crimes Section of the United States Department of Justice.

---

Greek Shipping Company To Pay $1M Fine
Friday, December 09, 2005

Karlog Shipping Company Ltd., of Piraeus, Greece, pleaded guilty on Nov. 16 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York to obstructing justice by concealing the release of oil into the ocean from the Motor Vessel Friendship, according to a report by AXcess News.
Karlog Shipping was ordered to pay a $1 million fine, develop a fleet-wide court-monitored environmental management system and serve three years' probation. In addition, Panagiotis Kokkinos, the ship's chief engineer, and Athanasios Chalkias, the ship's fitter, have also each pleaded guilty in connection with their role in ordering crew members to make false statements to the Coast Guard regarding discharges of oil from the ship. Each man was sentenced on Oct. 6 to 30 days in prison and three years' probation.

(Source: AXcess News)

---

Chief Engineer Indicted for Obstruction of Justice10/12/2005 10:19:31 AM

An Indian national working as the Chief Engineer on the container ship M/V MSC Elena was indicted late yesterday by a federal Grand Jury and charged with conspiracy, obstruction, destruction of evidence, false statements and violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships in connection with the use of a secretly concealed "magic pipe" used to discharge sludge and oil contaminated waste overboard. Michael J. Sullivan, the D.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts; Kelly A. Johnson, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division; and William Schenkelberg, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Region of the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, announced the Grand Jury's Indictment of MANI SINGH, age 57, of India. According to the Indictment, bypass equipment, referred to as the "magic pipe" was used to circumvent required pollution prevention equipment. This bypass equipment was discovered by the D.S. Coast Guard during an inspection of the vessel in Boston Harbor on May 16, 2005. Chief Engineer Singh is charged in the indictment with making false statements to the Coast Guard denying knowledge about the existence and use of the bypass equipment, with obstructing justice by directing subordinates to lie to the Coast Guard, with concealing evidence, and with concealing the discharges in a falsified oil Record Book, a required log in which all overboard discharges must be recorded. The Indictment further alleges that after the Coast Guard found bypass equipment hidden in a vO1d space, SINGH directed that a printout from the ship's computer and a rough log of actual tank volumes be concealed in an effort to cover up the falsification of ship records. It is alleged that the Coast Guard inspectors were presented with fictitious logs containing false entries claiming the use of the Oil Water Separator and omitting any reference to dumping overboard using the bypass equipment. According to the Indictment, SINGH was the Chief Engineer on the MSC Elena, a Panamanian registered 30,971 ton container ship operated by MSC Ship Management (Hong Kong) Limited. The MSC Elena made regular voyages from ports in Europe across the Atlantic to ports in the United States, including Boston. Engine room operations on board large oceangoing vessels such as the MSC Elena generate large amounts of waste oil. International and U.S. law prohibit the discharge of waste oil without treatment by an Oil Water Separator - a required pollution prevention device. The regime also requires all overboard discharges be recorded in an oil Record Book, a required log which is regularly inspected by the Coast Guard. The waste oil may be burned on board through the use of an incinerator or offloaded onto barges or shore side facilities for disposal. According to the Indictment, upon his taking over responsibility as Chief Engineer in March 2005, SINGH asked to be informed of the "magic pipe" arrangement on the MSC Elena and, once informed, directed that it be used to discharge waste overboard. It is alleged that both sludge and' oil contaminated bilge waste were discharged overboard through the a bypass equipment and without the use of the oil Water Separator. If convicted, SINGH faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison on the Q_ Conspiracy charge, 5 years in prison on the Obstruction charge, 5 years in prison on the False Statements charge, 20 years in prison on the Destruction of Evidence charge, and 5 years in prison on the violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. The investigation is continuing. This investigation was conducted by the New England Regional Office of the Coast Guard Investigative Service with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Boston.