Two Greek shipping companies fined for US environmental law violations

Two Greek shipping companies pleaded guilty and were sentenced for violating the US Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), which implements the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), falsifying records and obstruction of justice.

As disclosed, the two parties were sentenced in late December 2024. According to the US Department Of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs, the charges arose out of two United States port calls wherein the crew members of the oil/chemical tanker Kriti Ruby presented false records to the US Coast Guard (USCG) to obscure illegal transfers and discharges of oily bilge water from the ship.

Court records and statements made during the proceedings showed that the vessel in question is registered in Greece, owned by Avin International, and operated by Kriti Ruby Special Maritime Enterprises. It is understood that, as part of the plea, the companies were ordered to pay a criminal fine of $3,375,000 and a $1,125,000 community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Both companies were also sentenced to serve five-year terms of probation during which time they will be subject to environmental compliance plans with a monitorship to ensure future compliance, said the US government.

As explained, Avin International and Kriti Ruby Special Maritime Enterprises were sentenced for violating APPS in May and September 2022 during port calls by the tanker to Jacksonville, Florida, and the Sewaren Terminal of the port of Newark, New Jersey, respectively. The companies were also convicted for falsifying records and obstructing justice in connection with the September 2022 port call.

“Today’s plea demonstrates our unwavering commitment, in partnership with the Environmental Crimes Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, to ensuring compliance of critical domestic oil pollution laws and holding violators of these laws accountable,” said Rear Admiral Michael E. Platt, Commander of USCG’s First District.

Reflecting on the finalization of the proceedings, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger, further commented: “Maritime pollution is extremely harmful to the environment, and so difficult to detect, especially when the polluters take elaborate steps to falsify records to conceal their crimes. Law protecting our seas exists for a reason, and we will work together with our enforcement partners to ensure they are followed, and violators are punished.”

The US Office of Public Affairs elaborated that on multiple occasions between May and September 2022, crew members discharged oily waste into the sea via the ship’s sewage system, bypassing required pollution prevention equipment.

They failed to record these discharges in the vessel’s oil record book and, to make it difficult for the USCG to discover, crew members concealed most of the pumps and hoses used to conduct the bypass operations in a sealed void space known as “cofferdam.”

The Kriti Ruby’s former chief engineer, Konstantinos Atsalis, was convicted to time served and a $5,000 fine after previously pleading guilty to two counts of violating APPS. As per the US government branch, Atsalis admitted that the vessel’s crew had knowingly bypassed required pollution prevention equipment by discharging oily waste from the vessel’s engine room through its sewage system into the sea, including near a petroleum offloading facility in Sewaren.

What is more, Atsalis reportedly admitted that he falsified the vessel’s oil record book (ORB) – a required log regularly inspected by the USCG – and thus failed to record the illegal activity. He also admitted that he directed crew members to hide the equipment used to conduct transfers of oily waste from the engine room bilge wells to the sewage tank before the Coast Guard boarded the vessel.

Second engineer Sonny Bosito also pleaded guilty to violating APPS and was sentenced to time served for concealing pollution by falsifying records, which were then presented to the USCG during its inspection of the vessel.

Reflecting on the incident and its aftermath, Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), shared: “Prioritizing profits over the environment by discharging oily waste into the sea and working to cover up that pollution is illegal. We are committed to enforcing the law and fighting against maritime pollution.”

Back in 2023, the American government fined Greece-based shipping companies Empire Bulkers Limited and Joanna Maritime Limited for willful violations of APPS and the Ports and Waterways Safety Act related to their role as the operator and owner of the Motor Vessel (M/V) Joanna.

As informed, the companies were ordered to pay $2 million ($1 million each) for the violation, on top of serving four years of probation subject to the terms of a government-approved environmental compliance plan.

In June 2024, Prive Shipping and Prive Shipping Denizcilik Ticaret pleaded guilty to environmental crimes, in the aftermath of deliberate oil dumping from the Panama-flagged PS Dream tanker. The captain of the ship also pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with violating APPS and for obstructing proceedings.

Namely, upon the tanker’s arrival in New Orleans on January 26, 2023, the US Coast Guard conducted an inspection, reviewing the vessel’s oil record books. According to court documents and statements, Korkmaz allegedly directed his crew to discharge oily waste overboard from the residual oil tank. The US Department of Justice revealed that the captain acknowledged in his plea that he had presented the books to the Coast Guard knowing ‘crucial’ information was omitted from the report.