Rubber Hose News

The German shipping companies Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG and Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG MS “Extum,” who owned and operated the cargo ship M/V BBC Magellan, pleaded guilty today to failure to maintain an accurate oil record book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and tampering with witnesses by persuading them to provide false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard concerning a bypass hose on the vessel that was being used to discharge oil into the sea. The two companies were sentenced to pay a total of $1.25 million in fines and a $250,000 community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund projects that enhance coastal habitats of the Gulf of Mexico and bolster priority fish and wildlife populations.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) issued a safety alert to raise awareness regarding the importance of using proper replacement parts and equipment in accordance with their intended purpose. Recently, a casualty occurred on a passenger vessel operating about a mile offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. A crewmember, while making a round in a machinery space, noticed that a small fuel spray fire had developed above one of the four propulsion engines. The crewmember vacated the space and informed the bridge watch.

Two Shipping Corporations Plead Guilty and Are Sentenced in Maryland for Obstruction of Justice and Environmental Crimes; Companies Each Sentenced to Pay $1.2 Million, Including $550,000 to Benefit Chesapeake Bay. Two corporations pleaded guilty today in separate hearings in Baltimore for their role in managing and owning a ship engaged in deliberate discharges of waste oil and plastic garbage. The companies were each sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis to pay $1.2…

An Italian subsidiary of a U.S.-based company has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $2.29m criminal fine for participating in a conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices and allocate market shares of marine hose sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced. A one-count felony charge was filed on Feb. 16 in U.S. District Court in Houston, against Parker ITR S.r.l., a manufacturer of marine hose, headquartered in Veniano, Italy. Under the terms of the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, Parker ITR has agreed to pay a criminal fine and to cooperate fully in the Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation. Parker ITR is the fourth company to be charged in the investigation.

A Greek citizen, Panagiotis Lekkas, the captain of the bulk cargo ship the M/V Theotokos, pleaded guilty to four felony counts in federal court in New Orleans for violating anti-pollution laws, ship safety laws and obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard investigation, the Justice Department announced. Additionally, a Philippine citizen, Charles P. Posas, the second highest officer onboard the M/V Theotokos, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of lying to the Coast Guard and violating recordkeeping laws aimed at reducing the risk of marine invasive species. Posas is the first individual ever charged under the anti-invasive species law, a law designed to mitigate the introduction of marine invasive species into waters of the United States.

Two subsidiaries of the Swedish company Trelleborg AB, one based in Virginia and the other in France, have agreed to plead guilty and pay a total of $11m in criminal fines for their participation in separate conspiracies affecting the sales of marine products sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced April 21. A two-count felony charge was filed in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va., against Virginia Harbor Services Inc., formerly known as Trelleborg Engineered Products Inc. (VHS/TEPI), a manufacturer of foam-filled marine fenders, buoys and plastic marine pilings headquartered in Clearbrook, Va. According to the charges…

Repeat offender, Ionia Management, a Greek company that manages a fleet of tanker vessels, was sentenced in New Haven, Conn., for its role in falsifying records to conceal the overboard dumping of waste oil from the M/T Kriton into international waters and its efforts to impede the investigation of the U.S. Coast Guard, announced Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Kevin J. O’Connor, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Rear Admiral Tim Sullivan, Commander of the First Coast Guard District, U.S. Coast Guard. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton for the District of Connecticut fined Ionia Management $4.9 million and appointed a Special Master to oversee the company’s record keeping.

An independent consultant and two executives of Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd., a manufacturer of marine hose located in Grimsby, U.K., pleaded guilty and have agreed to serve record-setting prison sentences for participating in a conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices, and allocate market shares of marine hose sold in the U.S. the Department of Justice announced. The plea agreements were filed today in U.S. District Court in Houston. The Antitrust Division filed a one-count felony charge on Dec. 3, 2007, against Peter Whittle, sole proprietor of a consulting business named PW Consulting (Oil & Marine); Bryan Allison, managing director of Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd.; and David Brammar, Dunlop’s sales and marketing director, in U.S. District Court in Houston.

MSC Ship Management (Hong Kong) Limited—a Hong Kong-based container ship company—has agreed to plead guilty to charges that it engaged in conspiracy, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, false statements and violated the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, the Department of Justice announced today. Per the terms of a plea agreement that must be approved by the court, MSC Ship Management will pay $10.5 million in penalties. This is the largest fine in which a single vessel has been charged with deliberate pollution and the largest criminal fine paid by a defendant in an environmental case in Massachusetts history. According to the plea agreement…