Eurobulk fined in latest American oily bilge water case

A Greek shipping company has pleaded guilty and was sentenced for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and falsification of records.

Eurobulk, run by the Pittas family, admitted to violating APPS in April 2023 during a port call by the Good Heart in the port of Corpus Christi as well as falsification of records during that same port call.

US district judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos has now ordered the company to pay a criminal fine of $1.125m. The company must also serve a four-year-term of probation during which it will be subject to an environmental compliance plan with a monitorship to ensure future compliance.

“It is crucial that we strive to eliminate threats to our waters through holding overseas corporations accountable,” said US attorney Nicholas Ganjei. “Our office will continue to seek justice when foreign vessels fail to comply with the APPS and then seek to cover it up. The environmental harm inflicted and falsification of records merit the sentence imposed today.”

The Good Heart’s former chief engineer, Greek national Christos Charitos, 72, previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced for an APPS charge for failing to record discharges in the vessel’s Oil Record Book (ORB). Christos was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.

On at least two occasions in April 2023, Charitos ordered lower ranking engine personnel to discharge the contents of the duct keel  – a pipe tunnel that begins in the engine room and runs forward under the cargo holds – directly into the sea without using the Oily Water Separator (OWS). The discharges contained oil.

Also in April 2023, Charitos ordered the second engineer to make a fresh water connection to the OWS. By making such a connection, the oil content meter on the OWS was tricked so that the OCM could not verify the actual oil content of the discharge from the OWS. All of these discharges should have been recorded in the ORB. However, no entries were made.