The owner and operator and a Chief Engineer were indicted in U.S. Federal Court in New Orleans for breaching environmental and safety laws related to the MV Joanna, a Marshall Islands registered bulk carrier.
The grand jury indictment alleges that the companies and the Chief Engineer tampered with required oil pollution prevention equipment and falsified the ship’s Oil Record Book.
USCG also found that the ship’s Oily Water Separator had been bypassed by inserting a piece of metal into the Oil Content Meter so that it would only detect clean water instead of what was actually being discharged.
The defendants were also charged with violating the Ports and Waterways Safety Act by failing to immediately report a hazardous situation that affected the safety of the ship and threatened U.S. ports and waters.
Namely, during the inspection on March 11, 2021, the US Coast Guard discovered an active fuel oil leak in the ship’s purifier room that was caused from disabling the fuel oil heater pressure relief valves.
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Very nice Incident sharing! We can use it in our class for review and sharing or ideas. And discuss what should not have been done and not done. What is the lesson learnt? Conclusions, recommendations.