A Greek shipping firm, “Zeus Shipping Line,” in conjunction with the chief engineer and captain of one of its product tankers, the “GALISSAS,” received sentencing due to a series of MARPOL violations by a U.S. District Court in Rhode Island. These violations came to light during a Coast Guard inspection of the said product tanker in February 2022.
The court case arose from the MARPOL violations and the attempted concealment of these violations from the Coast Guard. As evidenced in court, the crew members of the GALISSAS became aware that the vessel’s inert gas system had become inoperable in February 2022 while conducting operations in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Despite the compromised safety of the ship, instead of staying in the Netherlands, the shipping company, Zeus Lines Management, and the ship’s captain opted to sail to the United States. The plan was to arrange for a spare part to be delivered to the vessel upon arrival.
On February 11th, 2022, the ship’s captain, “Jose Ervin Mahigne Porquez,” submitted a Notice of Arrival to the USGC without disclosing the hazardous condition that had developed on the ship. This information was also omitted when the coast guard announced their planned inspection of the ship.
Although the crew installed the spare part, it did not resolve the issue with the inert gas system. The ship’s captain finally acknowledged the problem when the coast guard boarded the ship for inspections. Subsequent inspections revealed oxygen levels more than twice the acceptable range.
In the court proceedings, it was disclosed that the shipping company had instructed the ship’s captain to maintain a falsified logbook that depicted normal oxygen levels in the tanks during the transatlantic voyage from Rotterdam to the U.S. The U.S. Coast Guard stated that the readings indicated in the logbook were fictitious and had never been taken.
Furthermore, the shipping company Zeus Shipping Line and the tanker’s Chief Engineer, “Roberto Cayabyab Penaflor,” faced charges for releasing approximately 9,544 gallons of oily bilge water from the ship’s bilge holding tank into the ocean. Penaflor also fabricated a false logbook to cover up this action.
Both the Galissas’ captain and chief engineer were sentenced to probation terms. Each of them had been potentially subject to a maximum prison sentence of six years and a fine reaching $250,000.
