Greek Shipping Company Fined $1.5M For Illegal Pollution & Falsifying Records

A Greek shipping company, Eurobulk Ltd., has pleaded guilty and been sentenced for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and falsifying records.

A U.S. federal court in Texas ordered the company to pay $1.5 million and serve four years of probation for the violations committed by its vessel, the Good Heart, during a port call in Corpus Christi, Texas, in April 2023.

The violations occurred when the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Good Heart (63,000 DWT), operated by Eurobulk Ltd., illegally discharged oily bilge water into the ocean without using the Oily Water Separator (OWS).

The ship’s former chief engineer, Christos Charitos, 72, a Greek national, ordered lower-ranking engine crew members to pump out oil-contaminated water from the duct keel (a pipe running from the engine room under the cargo holds) directly into the sea.

Charitos also instructed the second engineer to connect fresh water to the OWS, tricking the oil content meter (OCM) into reading lower oil levels, to avoid dete…

CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM MarineInsight HERE