Tag: fines

 The US Department of Justice has announced that Greek ship management company Chandris (Hellas) Inc. has  pleaded guilty and was sentenced for deliberately concealing pollution discharges from the ship directly into the sea and for falsifying  record book of  M/V Sestrea - an 81,502 ton cargo ship that made calls in multiple ports in Texas. The company has agreed to pay $1 million monetary penalty.Chandris pleaded guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) for failing to properly maintain an oil record book as required by federal and international law, as well as a violation of making a false statement for making a false entry in the ship’s oil record book.U.S. District Judge Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ordered the company to pay an $800,000 criminal fine along with a $200,000 community service payment to the congressionally-established National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The money will be designated for use in the Flower Garden and Stetson Banks National Marine Sanctuary, headquartered in Galveston, to support the protection and preservation of natural and cultural resources located in and adjacent to the sanctuary.Chandris was also sentenced to three years probation. As a condition of the probation, all ships Chandris manages and are involved in transporting ...

 The US Department of Justice announced a settlement to resolve civil claims against BP arising from the April 20, 2010 Macondo well blowout and the massive oil spill that followed in the Gulf of Mexico.This global settlement resolves the governments’ civil claims under the Clean Water Act and natural resources damage claims under the Oil Pollution Act, as well as economic damage claims of the five Gulf states and local governments.  Taken together this global resolution of civil claims is worth $20.8 billion, and is the largest settlement with a single entity in the department’s history.Also, the Deepwater Horizon Trustees Council, made up of representatives of the five Gulf states and four federal agencies, has published a draft damage assessment and restoration plan and a draft environmental impact statement.  The plan includes a comprehensive assessment of natural resource injuries resulting from the oil spill and provides a detailed framework for how the trustees will use the natural resource damage recoveries from BP to restore the Gulf environment.“Building on prior actions against BP and its subsidiaries by the Department of Justice, this historic resolution is a strong and fitting response to the worst environmental disaster in American history,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “BP is receiving ...

 The West of England P&I Club informs about recent changes in the law regarding the imposition of fines for vessels allegedly found to have discharged contaminated segregated ballast water in the Ukraine.The law in the Ukraine regarding the control of segregated ballast water on board vessels has recently changed. If a vessel has segregated ballast tanks, ecological inspectors are no longer permitted to board, inspect IOPP certification, take segregated ballast water samples for analysis or impose fines on the grounds that the vessel has discharged contaminated segregated ballast water. Moreover, ecological inspectors in Ukraine are no longer included in the list of official personnel required to board vessels in order to issue inward clearance.However, in spite of the new legislation, ecological inspectors may still try to board vessels with segregated ballast tanks during cargo operations and demand to take samples of the ballast water. As the inspectors are no longer authorised to do so, masters are advised to reject their demands and invite the inspectors to return once a Club correspondent or local lawyer is in attendance. The Club says that Masters may use the following extract from the Ukrainian Ecological Regulations, translated by Dias Marine Consulting, to justify their refusal to ...

Argentine Customs continue to pay particular attention to ship’s declarations of lubrication (lube) oil and failing to declare “used lube oil” may be considered an infringement of the Argentine Customs Code. Gard P&I Club 's Alert of March 2014 stated that fines were being issued as a result of vessels’ lube oil in the sump tank not being correctly declared in the required customs forms. The Club has recently received information indicating that failing to declare quantities of “used lube oil” stored onboard could also be considered an infringement of the Argentine Customs Code and result in fines. According to information received from Pandi Liquidadores S.R.L., Buenos Aires, which included advice received from local Argentine legal experts on customs matters: 1) the legal basis for declaring the stores is to avoid import of goods without the payment of dues; and 2) Argentine law does not explicitly require declaration of used goods, including “used lube oil”. On this basis, and taking into account that “used lube oil” has no commercial value and has to be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner, their interpretation of Argentine law is that vessels are not obliged to declare “used lube oil”. Nevertheless, vessels calling at Argentine ...