The United States Department of Justice on Friday (1 October) has charged the Empire Bulkers Ltd., Joanna Maritime Limited and Chief Engineer Warlito Tan in New Orleans for alleged violations of environmental and safety laws related to MV Joanna, a Marshall Islands registered bulk carrier.
The four-count grand jury indictment alleges that the companies and Tan tampered with required oil pollution prevention equipment and falsified the ship’s oil record book, an official ship log regularly inspected by the Coast Guard.
The coast guard 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 overboard.
According to the indictment, Tan and the shipping companies falsified the log and sought to obstruct the coast guard’s inspection.
The defendants also were 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.
During the inspection on March 11, 2021, the coast guard discovered an active fuel oil leak in the ship’s purifier room that resulted from disabling the fuel oil heater pressure relief valves, an essential safety feature designed to prevent catastrophic fires and explosions.
Photo credit: Marine Traffic / Peter van Gils
Published: 5 October, 2021
Recommends members to streamline operations for common and consistent procedures valid for both systems.
Winding up application directed to be heard before the court sitting of the High Court of the Republic of Singapore at 10:00am on 27 March.
First batch of 10,000 tons was shipped by the operator of the bunkering business of Gazprom Neft - Gazpromneft Marine Bunker to the port of St. Petersburg.
Vessel operated by 24 individuals consisting of Chinese, Indonesian and Vietnamese crew aged between 18 to 58 years of age, according to MMEA.
Bails for the men between the range of SGD $300,000 to $700,000, according to local media.
‘This is a new milestone for the port of Marseille Fos, which is undoubtedly an essential LNG hub in the Mediterranean,’ says CEO of Port of Marseille Fos.
Cash of SGD 4.43 million and USD 243,100, and one piece of 100-gram gold-coloured bar recovered in safe belonging to Abdul Latif Bin Ibrahim kept at Extra Space warehouse storage facility, show court documents.
Program introduces periodic assessments, mass flow metering data analysis, and regular training for relevant key personnel to better handle the MFMS to ensure a high level of continuous operational competency.
U.S. Claims Register Summary recorded a total USD 833 million claim from a total 180 creditors against O.W. Bunker USA, according to the creditor list seen by Singapore bunkering publication Manifold Times.
Glencore purchased fuel through Straits Pinnacle which contracted supply from Unicious Energy. Contaminated HSFO was loaded at Khor Fakkan port and shipped to a FSU in Tanjong Pelepas, Malaysia to be further blended.
Individuals were employees of surveying companies engaged by Shell to inspect the volume of oil loaded onto the vessels which Shell supplied oil to; they allegedly accepted bribes totalling at least USD 213,000.
MPA preliminary investigations revealed that the affected marine fuel was supplied by Glencore Singapore Pte Ltd who later sold part of the same cargo to PetroChina International (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
