Vessel's Owner, Chief Engineer and Second Engineer Admit to Falsyfying Records

Transmar Shipping Co, S.A., the operator of the cargo ship M/V New Fortune, pleaded guilty in federal court in Oakland today to failing to maintain an Oil Record Book and making a false statement to the U.S. Coast Guard, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced. The vessel’s Chief Engineer Dimitrios Dimitrakis pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an Oil Record Book, and the Second Engineer Volodymyr Dombrovskyy pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the failure to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book. These guilty pleas stem from the defendants’ overboard disposal of oil residue, sludge, oil and oily mixtures into the ocean and their subsequent efforts to conceal these discharges by falsifying their onboard records.

“This prosecution evidences our determination to protect the environment from the unlawful discharge of waste oil from ships, a major source of pollution to ocean and inland waters,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello. “Companies need to understand that there are criminal consequences for attempting to deceive government regulators by providing false documents to authorities to avoid compliance with environmental laws.”

According to Court documents, the M/V New Fortune is a 26,136 gross ton ocean-going bulk cargo ship that is registered in the Marshall Islands. It was engaged in the carriage of bulk products in world-wide commerce. Following the ship’s trans-Pacific journey from South Korea to the Port of Oakland, U.S. Coast Guard inspectors boarded the vessel for a routine inspection. At that time, crew members advised the inspectors that illegal activities were taking place onboard, and came forward to reveal that the crew was using a “magic hose” to dispose of the vessels’ oil-containing waste overboard, bypassing the vessel’s pollution prevention equipment.

Further investigation by the Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division revealed waste oil in the overboard piping of the M/V New Fortune and also uncovered evidence of false entries made in the vessel’s Oil Record Book, a documen required by MARPOL, a treaty ratified and implemented by the United States and other countries. MARPOL, which stands for marine pollution, and U.S. law limit the oil content of overboard discharges from ships to not more than 15 parts per million. To ensure compliance, MARPOL requires that all transfers of sludge, oil contaminated bilge water, and overboard discharges of bilge water, be fully and accurately recorded in the Oil Record Book.

“We consider failure to comply with MARPOL to be an insult to the seas and the citizens of the world. We work hard to make clear we have no tolerance for such behavior and we will hold accountable those that violate MARPOL,” said Capt. Paul Gugg, commander of the Coast Guard's San Francisco Sector.

Court documents further state that Chief Engineer Dimitrakis and Second Engineer Dombrovskyy were onboard the M/V New Fortune from March 1, 2009 through Feb. 16, 2010, when the ship came into port in
Oakland. Dimitrakis held overall responsibility for the engine room where the bypass hose was used and the pollution prevention equipment was located and Dombrovskyy worked in the engine room under Dimitrakis.

Dimitrakis and Dombrovskyy admitted that they regularly ordered M/V New Fortune crew members to bypass the vessel’s oil pollution prevention equipment through the illegal use of a bypass hose and discharged oil-contaminated bilge water and sludge directly into the ocean. Dimitrakis also admitted that he concealed this disposal by regularly making false entries and omissions in the vessel’s Oil Record Book. Dombrovskyy admitted that he disposed of the “magic hose” before entering the waters of the United States in order to conceal that they had used it to discharge of sludge and bilge water directly overboard.

According to court documents, on a number of occasions, Dimitrakis and Dombrovskyy ordered crew members to operate the bypass hose and pumps at night while on the high seas. Dimitrakis and Dombrovskyy ordered crew members to disconnect and hide the bypass hose prior to entering United States waters and ports, as well as ports in other locations.

According to court documents, Dimitrakis made false entries into the Oil Record Book indicating that the ship’s Oil Water Separator was being used, creating the overall false impression that the vessel was being properly operated and that they were properly maintaining the vessel’s Oil Record Book. No entries were made in the ship’s Oil Record Book indicating the direct discharge of bilge water and sludge from the ship into the ocean.
Court documents further state that on Feb. 16, 2010, during the Coast Guard’s inspection, the M/V New Fortune crew presented the false Oil Record Book to the U.S. Coast Guard during the vessels’ United States port call in Oakland.

After accepting the guilty plea, U.S. District Judge D. Lowell Jensen sentenced Transmar to pay a fine of $750,000, an additional community service payment of $100,000, and ordered it to follow an environmental compliance plan agreed to by the parties. TRANSMAR is required to develop, fund, and implement a comprehensive, fleet-wide environmental compliance plan to ensure future compliance aboard all of its vessels. As part of the plan, Transmar will, among other things, designate a corporate compliance manager to oversee implementation of the plan, develop an environmental manual for all ships, fully train employees, and hire an outside environmental consultant who will conduct compliance audits of Transmar ships.

Dombrovskyy was sentenced to two years probation, a $500 fine, and a $100 special assessment.

Dimitrakis is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 3, 2010, before the Honorable D. Lowell Jensen in Oakland. The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of 33 U.S.C. § 1908(a) is six years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

This case is being prosecuted by Chinhayi Cadet, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, and Trial Attorney Lana Pettus for the Environmental Crimes Section in the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division with the assistance of Jeanne Carstensen. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco Port State Control Inspections Office, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard District Eleven Legal Office.

United States Department of Justice News Release