A shipping company on Thursday pleaded guilty to dumping oily waste into the Gulf and attempting to cover it up. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana helped prosecute the case.
The company in question is V.Ships Norway A.S., a Norwegian ship management firm. The company specifically pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, admitting that oily bilge water and oily waste were discharged from one of its vessels—the Motor Tanker Swift Winchester—and that the discharges were intentionally omitted from the ship’s oil record book.
“The crew took pains to hide their illegal activity by knowingly keeping inaccurate records,” a statement from Adam Gustafson, acting assistant attorney for the U.S. Justice Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division, reads. “We will not turn a blind eye to this kind of irresponsible and fraudulent activity.”
Here’s what happened, per the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana:
Between February 2022 and August 2022, a hose connecting the ship’s incinerator waste oil tank and its sewage holding tank allowed oily waste to flow into the sewage tank, from which the waste was discharged directly into the sea. This activity bypassed all required pollution prevention measures.
When an engine room crew member reported the illegal waste dumping to a V.Ships superintendent, the superintendent investigated the matter and found what appeared to be oil in the ship’s sewage tank. The ship’s chief engineer was dismissed.
Separately, in August 2022, the ship’s new chief engineer ordered the engine crew to clean the ship’s oil water separator filter. The engine crew hosed the filter down with a degreaser on the ship’s deck, allowing oily waste to flow directly overboard.
When the U.S. Coast Guard conducted an examination of the ship’s activities, an engine room crew member disclosed the illegal discharges and provided photographic and video evidence documenting them. It was discovered that the M/T Swift Winchester entered Baton Rouge on Aug. 25, 2022, and Port Arthur, Texas, on Sept. 7, 2022, with a knowingly falsified oil record book.
V.Ships has been ordered to pay a $2 million fine for its offense.
