Greek Shipper Pleads Guilty to Pollution-Related Crimes
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Greece-based Chandris was sentenced for deliberately concealing pollution discharges from the ship and falsifying its oil record book while docked in Corpus Christi, AP says quoting, a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Chandris (Hellas) Inc pleaded guilty to both violations and was ordered to pay an $800,000 fine along with a $200,000 community service payment to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.
Chandris also was sentenced to three years probation, meaning all ships managed by the company will have to comply with an Environmental Compliance Plan, according to the news release.
According to court records, the chief engineer of the M/V Sestrea -an 81,502 ton cargo ship Chandris operated - failed to document that the ship had dumped directly into the sea oily waste that should have been disposed through a separator aboard the vessel or burned in the ship’s incinerator.
The incident occurred December 2014, when a chief engineering officer on board tricked the Oil Content Meter, subsequently dumping 15 parts per million of oily water overboard.
The ship had made stops in multiple ports in Texas, including Corpus Christi in January.