Pollution Control Equipment News

The U.S. has imposed a $2 million fine on the owner and operator of a bulk carrier that knowingly committed pollution crimes on the Mississippi River. Greek-based Empire Bulkers and related company Joanna Maritime were sentenced Thursday for committing "knowing and willful violations" of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and the Ports and Waterways Safety Act related to their role as the operator and owner of the bulk carrier Joanna.A March 2022 inspection of the…

Fuel spilling from a Japanese bulk carrier that ran aground on a reef in Mauritius two weeks ago is creating an ecological disaster, endangering corals, fish and other marine life around the Indian Ocean island, officials and environmentalists say.The MV Wakashio, owned by the Nagashiki Shipping Company, struck the reef on Mauritius' southeast coast on July 25.On Thursday, the government said fuel was leaking from a crack in the vessel's hull and Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth declared a state of environmental emergency…

$1 Million Will Go to Projects that Support Cleanup of Marine Pollution, Preservation of Aquatic Life, and Restoration of Shorelines around Newark Bay.A shipping company based in Italy today admitted discharging oily waste and other pollutants into the sea and then lying about it, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito and Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark announced.The company, d’Amico Shipping Italia S.p.A., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to an information charging it with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

Abadan, Arvandankar and Choabdeh ports experienced an increase of 56% in 2018, says Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO).Abadan ports and maritime management announced that the export of goods from the three ports of Abadan in the past year has shown a  growing trend.According to the information system, the exports from these ports increased by 39.471 tons in the same period last year which shows a growth of 56.3% in exports, it said.Agricultural products, meat and meat products, household appliances and light products, machinery and vehicles, raw materials and chemical compounds, construction materials, petrochemical, parts and accessories…

The U.S. Coast Guard continues to monitor and respond as lightering operations begin on the motor vessel Roger Blough, Friday, after the vessel ran aground May 27 on Gros Cap Reef in Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior. The Philip R. Clarke arrived on scene with the Blough Thursday afternoon, and lightering operations started Friday at 5:45 a.m. The safety perimeter has been increased from 500 yards to 750 yards. Plans continue to progress to safely free the Blough from Gros Cap Reef through the combined efforts of Canadian partners, company representatives and the U.S. Coast Guard.

The U.S. Coast Guard continues to monitor and respond to the motor vessel Roger Blough, Wednesday, after the vessel ran aground Friday afternoon on Gros Cap Reef in Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior. Plans continue to progress to safely free the Blough from Gros Cap Reef through the combined efforts of Canadian partners, company representatives and the U.S. Coast Guard. DonJon-Smit salvage divers have completed their underwater survey of the Blough's hull and the salvage plan is being revised to reflect on-scene conditions. Lightering operations are scheduled to begin by Friday, June 3, with the motor vessel Philip R. Clarke identified as the receiving vessel.

A ship management company has pleaded guilty and was sentenced October 27, 2015 for deliberately concealing pollution discharges from the ship directly into the sea and for falsifying its oil record book, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson along with Rear Admiral David R. Callahan, Eighth District Coast Guard Commander. Chandris (Hellas) Inc. is headquartered in Greece and operated the M/V Sestrea - an 81,502 ton cargo ship that made calls in multiple ports in Texas. Chandris pleaded guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to properly maintain an oil record book as required by federal and international law, as well as a violation of making a false statement for making a false entry in the ship’s oil record book. Shortly following the plea, U.S.

Elastec, a U.S. based manufacturer of pollution control equipment, is producing trash and debris collection boats to assist local governments in meeting Clean Water Act standards, aid in the reduction of floating pollutants in waterways and help protect aquatic ecosystems. The trash and debris collection vessel, designed to skim floating litter from harbors and waterways, can also be used for various marine maintenance duties from its 8- by 11-foot work platform. Designed to be maneuverable in hard to reach areas…

AML Ship Management GMBH, a German company, was sentenced in federal court today to pay a total of $800,000 in fines and community service payments for violating the Clean Water Act and the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by intentionally discharging 4,500 gallons of oily bilge water into the ocean off the coast of Alaska and then presenting false records to the U.S. Coast Guard. AML was also ordered to implement a comprehensive Environmental Compliance Plan and was placed on probation for three years. During the term of probation, AML will be subject to a heightened level of scrutiny, including warrantless searches of its vessels and places of business based upon a reasonable suspicion that it is violating the law.

Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Noly Torato Vidad of the Philippines, the Chief Engineer of the cargo vessel M/V Selene Leader, to eight months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, for obstruction of justice and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS). The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division John C. Cruden; and Coast Guard Captain Kevin Kiefer, Captain of the Port of Baltimore.

U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced  that AML Ship Management GMBH, a German company, and Nicolas Sassin, Chief Engineer of a vehicle carrier ship it operated, the M/V City of Tokyo, were both charged with knowingly dumping oil into United States’ waters off the coast of Alaska in August 2014 in violation of the Clean Water Act. AML and Chief Engineer Nicolas Sassin have also been charged in separate cases filed in the District of Oregon with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) for knowingly creating and presenting false records to the U.S. Coast Guard when it arrived in port in Portland, Oregon in September 2014. The Clean Water Act charges in Alaska and the APPS charges in Oregon are felony offenses.

German shipping company AML Ship Management GMBH and one of its chief engineers pled guilty yesterday to illegally discharging oily waste in Alaskan waters last August. The company and Nicolas Sassin, 45, the chief engineer of AML's City of Tokyo vehicle carrier, each plead guilty to one count of violating the Clean Water Act. They also face charges in Portland, OR, for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. The dumping of 4,500 gallons of oil bilge water occurred 165 miles south of the Aleutian islands.

The Hachiuma Steamship Co., LTD pleaded guilty January 30 to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), arising from the failure to maintain an accurate oil record book concerning the illegal disposal of oil residue and bilge water overboard the cargo vessel M/V Selene Leader. Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Hachiuma Steamship to pay $1.8 million, and placed it on probation for three years during which it is to develop an environmental compliance program. The plea and sentence were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division John C. Cruden; and Coast Guard Captain Kevin Kiefer, Captain of the Port of Baltimore.

The chief engineer of the cargo vessel M/V Selene Leader pleaded guilty in federal court in Baltimore, Maryland, to obstruction of justice and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Sam Hirsch and U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland. Noly Torato Vidad was the chief engineer of the vessel, which was operated by Hachiuma Steamship Co LTD, a Japanese company, between August 2013 and the end of January 2014. The M/V Selene Leader According to the plea agreement, in January 2014, engine room crew members of the M/V Selene Leader under the supervision of…

Foster Wheeler AG announced today that a subsidiary of its Global Power Group’s Environmental and Industrial division has been awarded a contract by Longview Power, LLC to rehabilitate and optimize the wet flue gas desulfurization system at their existing 700 MWe (net megawatt electric) Longview Power facility in Maidsville, West Virginia, USA. Foster Wheeler has received a full notice to proceed on this contract. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and the contract value will be included in the company’s third-quarter 2014 bookings. Foster Wheeler will provide new components as well as engineering and installation services to optimize the performance of the existing dewatering and forced oxidation systems with the fuel currently being used by Longview.

GPC, Joint Venture, Irvine, Calif., is being awarded a maximum value $250,000,000 Department of Defense contract for services to manage, maintain and operate the emergency ship salvage material system (ESSM) and support the Navy's oil and hazardous substances spill response program. The contractor will be responsible for the full-time manning and management of ESSM facilities, including inventory and periodic maintenance of equipment stored at ESSM complexes, maintenance of all ESSM system equipment for immediate deployment and operation, deploying full operations response teams with pollution control equipment, and providing ESSM operator/technician(s) when required to support the deployment of ESSM salvage and oil pollution response equipment. Work will be performed in Williamsburg, Va.

Elastec/American Marine, headquartered in Carmi, IL, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the BoomVane technology, expanding its range in the manufacture of innovative pollution control equipment. Developed and patented by ORC of Sweden, the BoomVane is an aquatic paravane system that enables oil recovery and debris containment booms to be towed by a single vessel, as well as to deploy booms in rivers and tidal waters without boats or anchors. Elastec/American Marine is the largest manufacturer of oil spill recovery equipment in North America with global distribution in 145 countries.

U.S. Shipping Company Convicted For Oil Pollution On High Seas. Horizon Lines, LLC was sentenced Tuesday in front of the Honorable Richard Seeborg after pleading guilty to felony charges concerning violations of international and national oil pollution laws that occurred on a large container ship called the S/S Horizon Enterprise, United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced. As part of a plea agreement, the company was ordered to pay $1,500,000, with $500,000 of the monies going to environmental projects in the San Francisco Bay area. Horizon Lines pled guilty to two counts of making false statements based on their knowing failure to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book in which all transfers and discharges of oil and oily waste are required to be recorded.

Matson Navigation Co. will pay $3 million in fines after admitting it illegally dumped bilge water that may have been contaminated with waste oil, the U.S. Attorney in Seattle said. San Francisco-based Matson, a unit of Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin Inc. specializing in moving cargo between the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii, will also be placed on probation for three years, U.S. Attorney Kate Pflaumer said in a release. Matson will pay $500,000 each to settle cases in San Francisco and Seattle and $2 million to settle a case in Los Angeles, with half the proceeds funding environmental and law enforcement programs at coastal national parks in California and Washington state.

Shashank Pendse, a citizen of India and Chief Engineer on the ship M/V Spring Drake; MMS Co., Ltd, a Japanese company that manages the ship; and Grus Line Shipping S.A., the Panamanian company that owns the ship; were all indicted on Feb. 6 in on charges that allege they dumped oil at sea, obstructed justice and made false statements. In Aug. 2003, the Spring Drake was docked in Portland to pick up a load of grain when it was inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard. The indictment alleges that the ship dumped oil and oily sludge at sea through a pipe that bypassed the ship's pollution control equipment, the defendants attempted to conceal evidence of the illegal oil discharges, and they made false entries in the ship's Oil Record Book. The release of oil at sea can harm fish and wildlife.

SKIMOIL, Inc.’s new diesel FUEL FILTER ALERT and alarm system, developed specifically for the commercial marine industry, provides an accurate real-time indication of fuel filter status. The system is especially valuable for vessels that don't have constant filter monitoring by dedicated on-board engineers, such as harbor tugs and other workboats running with a small crew. "All it takes is a load of bad diesel fuel to get a workboat in serious trouble fast, and it's always when least expected…

A Panamanian company that operated a 40,000-ton oil tanker ship that regularly made calls in multiple ports in Texas pleaded guilty Oct. 21 in federal court in Houston for deliberately concealing pollution discharges from the ship directly into the sea, the Justice Department announced. Styga Compania Naviera S.A., the operator of the M/T Georgios M, pleaded guilty to three felony violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to properly maintain an oil record book as required by federal and international law. According to a plea agreement filed with U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the company has agreed to pay a $1m criminal fine along with a $250…

A jury in Houston federal court cleared Greek maritime officer Ioannis Mylonakis of charges that he engineered the dumping of oil tanker waste off of the Texas coast in early 2009, according to the Berg & Androphy law firm. The jury rejected claims by U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section that Mylonakis, as chief engineer of the 40,000-ton M/T Georgios M, ordered his crew to use a so-called "magic pipe" to bypass pollution control equipment and discharge sludge and oily waste into the seas near Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas. Mylonakis is represented by lead attorneys Joel Androphy and Kathryn Nelson, of Berg & Androphy, of Houston, and assisted by George M. Chalos and George A. Gaitas, of the Chalos & Co., P.C., of New York.