The Government of Canada has introduced several measures to address risks endangered whales face by marine shipping and fishing activity. For this reason, Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, fined one vessel $6000 alleged non-compliance of a temporary mandatory speed restriction.
Companies importing ships from overseas have been put on notice by the Australian Border Force after demands for payments of around $2 million were issued for two undervalued commercial crafts. In the worst case, an investigation by ABF Customs Compliance officers found out that a dredging vessel recently imported into Queensland was undervalued by over $15 million.
In 2016, a tug barge owned by Houston-based Kirby Corp. ran aground in the Seaforth Channel near Bella Bella, about 98 nautical miles north of Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. After the incident an oil spill was detected in the waters, for which the Provincial Court of British Columbia sentenced Kirby to pay a $2.2 million penalty.
As the US Department of Justice published, today, the Japanese fishing company was convicted of obstruction of justice and falsifying records to cover up illegal oil and garbage pollution. The owner and operator was ordered to pay a fine of $1.5 million and will be banned from US waters and ports for five years.
A man linked to a case involving 340,000 tonnes of stolen gas oil worth more than $200 million – the largest ever in Singapore – has been jailed for two and a half years. Dang Van Hanh has been jailed after pleading guilty to have received 5,600 metric tonnes of marine gasoil (MGO) stolen from Shell’s Pulau Bukom refinery.
Maritime New Zealand ordered an Auckland recreational boatie to pay $5,050 in fines and emotional harm payments after causing a collision on the Waitematā Harbour. Maritime NZ Northern Regional Compliance Manager, Neil Rowarth, stated that Mr Hutchings had put the lives of others in danger by acting recklessly.
Denmark has put a fine on French oil and gas major Total, of 500,000 Danish crowns ($75,145) for discharging chemicals in the North Sea, by a company it acquired in 2017, according to the Danish broadcaster DR. The former oil unit of Maersk, Maersk Oil, was reported to the police by the Danish environmental protection agency, back in 2017.
The US Coast Guard announced that it terminated the voyage of the 33-foot pleasure craft, Sunrise, which was carrying 11 passengers on board, on July 6th, in the Intracoastal Waterway near the 79th Street Causeway. Owners and operators of illegal charter vessels can face civil penalties of more than $58,000 for illegal passenger-for-hire operations.
According to the Canadian Government, the Minister of Transport, Marc Garneau, issued a statement based on unfortunate deaths of many North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters; Because of this, he implemented a precautionary speed restriction of 10 knots, for vessels of 20 metres and more, that sail in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the two designated shipping lanes north and south of Anticosti Island.
The US District Court in Baltimore, the Department of Justice announced that an indictment of two Norwegian shipping executives was opened. The defendants were charged for participating in a long-running conspiracy to share certain customers and routes, rig bids, and fix prices for the sale of international ocean shipments of roll-on, roll-off cargo to and from the United States and elsewhere, including the Port of Baltimore.
