WILMINGTON, Del. - David C. Weiss, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced that Navimax Corporation (“Navimax"), incorporated in the Marshall Islands with its main offices in Greece, was sentenced today to a $2,000,000 fine by United States District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika for a violation of the Act To Prevent Pollution From Ships (“APPS"), and obstruction of a Coast Guard investigation.
The Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships is a codification of international treaties known as the “MARPOL Protocol." APPS applies to the handling and disposal of oily waste generated by ship machinery as well as oil cargo residue that results from cleaning oil cargo tanks. To insure that oily waste is properly stored and processed at sea, all ocean-going ships entering U.S. ports must maintain an Oil Record Book in which all transfers and discharges of oily waste, regardless of the ship’s location in international waters, are fully recorded.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Navimax operated the Nave Cielo, a 750-foot long oil tanker. In early December 2017, the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the vessel near Delaware City and was conducting a routine inspection when a crewmember gave the officers a thumb drive containing two videos, depicting a high-volume discharge of dark brown and black oil waste from a five-inch pipe, located 15-feet above water level. Subsequent investigation disclosed that the approximate 10-minute discharge occurred on Nov. 2, 2017, in international waters, after the ship left New Orleans en route to Belgium. The day after the discharge, crewmembers cleaned oil from the decks and a crewman was lowered over the side of the vessel to clean oil from the hull. During the Coast Guard inspection on December 7, 2017, the ship’s crew presented the ship’s Oil Record Book, which did not record this discharge.
“The Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships helps protect the precious ocean and marine resources of the United States from harmful pollution, and those who knowingly violate this law will be held accountable," said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work with the Coast Guard and our other law enforcement partners to ensure that individuals and corporations alike comply with the nation’s environmental laws."
“The defendant violated environmental laws that protect our marine environment from harmful pollution," said U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David C. Weiss. “The conviction and criminal fine, reinforced by a four-year term of probation, during which the defendant’s fleet of ships will be monitored, ensures that defendant is held accountable. The message to the shipping industry is clear: environmental crimes at sea will not be tolerated."
“I am exceptionally pleased with the outcome of this case," said Captain Scott Anderson, Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay. “Personnel at Sector Delaware Bay, Marine Safety Detachment Lewes, DE, the Coast Guard Investigative Service Philadelphia Office, and legal staffs dedicated countless hours conducting an extensive and detailed investigation and processing the case. Outcomes like this help protect the environment by holding operators accountable for their actions."
Navimax was ordered to pay the $2,000,000 fine immediately, and placed the company on probation for four years. Also sentenced today for a violation of APPS was Roman Maksymov, the vessel’s former Chief Officer. Maksymov was responsible for the proper handling of oily waste from the ship’s cargo holds and for recording any discharge of oil in the Oil Record Book.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay and the Coast Guard Investigative Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edmond Falgowski and Trial Attorney John Cashman in the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
