USCG Bans Norwegian-Flagged Wilmina from for Three Years
The Coast Guard announced it is restricting the Norwegian-flagged Wilmina from U.S. ports for three years due to several marine environment-related offenses. On May 4 the Wilmina was the subject of an examination conducted by officers from Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi. Subsequent to the initial examination, a seafarer provided Coast Guard officials information that the vessel was discharging oily water overboard in violation of the International Convention to Prevent Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). Coast Guard officers returned to the ship to conduct a follow on examination. The examination revealed inconsistencies in the vessel's oil record book…
SNAME Provides Start-up Funds for Research
Shipboard oily water separators are internationally mandated as engine room equipment and are intended to allow engine room crews to clean engine room bilge water prior to discharge into the world’s oceans. This equipment was mandated based on the assumption that uncleaned discharge of engine room bilge water would result in discharge of oil into the environment. Oily water separator equipment has now been installed aboard commercial vessels for over 30 years, but there is reason to question the actual effectiveness of this equipment. It has never been clearly established if oily water separators actually work to a level that enables crews to operate them in a reliable fashion.
Criminal Liability of the Mariner (and His Employer)
By Jeffrey S. In recent years, federal prosecutors have pursued criminal charges against shipping companies and their employees with increasing energy. This trend is alarming not only because it targets both denizens of the wheelhouse and the executive suite alike, but because it relies upon criminal statutes that are out of step with traditional tenets of criminal law and employs prosecutorial tactics which often lead to the distortion of facts and the loss of attorney-client privileges. Recent cases provide a "word-to-the-wise" and at the same time cry out for Congressional remedy. As one might expect, oil pollution cases are by far the most attractive to prosecutors.
