UNITED STATE Attorney Gretchen Shappert for the District of the Virgin Islands reports that Ionian Shipping & & Trading Corp., Lily Shipping Ltd., Stamatios Alekidis,Athanasios Pittas as well as Rey Espulgar have actually been founded guilty as well as punished for numerous air pollution, document maintaining, as well as blockage of justice criminal activities on the electric motor vessel Ocean Princess inSt Croix, U.S.V.I. The offenders’ conduct consisted of utilizing gas that surpassed the optimum permitted sulfur focus in the united state Caribbean Emission Control Area as well as initiatives to trick united state Coast Guard inspectors concerning the resource of the gas being utilized aboard the M/T Ocean Princess.
The M/T Ocean Princess was possessed byLily Shipping Ltd as well as run by Ionian Shipping & & Trading Corp., bothGreece- domiciled firms. The vessel was taken part in carrying oil items throughout the Caribbean consisting of from Limetree Terminals,St Croix, U.S.V.I. The industrial supervisor of the vessel would certainly license the Master of the vessel, Alekidis, to move oil freight from the freight containers right into the vessel’s gas containers, referred to as shelter containers. As the proprietor as well as driver of the vessel,Lily Shipping Ltd as well as Ionian Shipping & &Trading Corp were more in charge of guaranteeing the vessel utilized gas that abided by the united state Caribbean ECA criteria.
While vessels are running within the united state Caribbean ECA, they have to not utilize gas that goes beyond 0.10% sulfur by weight. Between January 3, 2017, as well as July 10, 2018, the M/T Ocean Princess participated in, as well as ran within, the UNITED STATE Caribbean ECA utilizing gas which contained too much sulfur on twenty-six different events. The gas was oil freight that had actually been moved to the gas containers as accredited by the vessel’s industrial supervisor.
Once notice was obtained from Alekidis, Espulgar collaborated with Pittas to make the transfers from the freight containers to the shelter containers. Espulgar after that misstated the Oil Record Book, Part II, by falling short to tape-record that freight had actually been moved to the shelter containers. Pittas additionally misstated the Oil Record Book, Part I, by incorrectly videotaping that the gas in the shelter container stemmed from a shore-side business inSt Martin, F.W.I. Additionally, Pittas produced make believe Bunker Delivery Notes that asserted the gas in the shelters originated from the exact same shore-side business inSt Martin, F.W.I. Between March 2, 2016, as well as February 6, 2018, nineteen different make believe Bunker Delivery Notes were produced on as well as maintained aboard the vessel.
UNITED STATE Coast Guard assessors boarded the M/T Ocean Princess on July 10, 2018, to perform an evaluation. During the assessment, the united state Coast Guard found that the vessel was utilizing gas with an extreme sulfur material. Chief Officer Rey Espulgar advised a few of the lower-ranking crewmembers to exist to the united state Coast Guard inspectors concerning where the gas originated from as well as to claim the ship tackled gas inSt Martin, F.W.I., when actually it did not.
Ionian delivery & &Trading Corp as well asLily Shipping Ltd will certainly each pay a penalty of $1,500,000.00, be positioned on 4 years of probation, as well as execute anEnvironmental Compliance Plan Alekidis,Pittas, as well as Espulgar were punished to 3 years of probation as well as purchased not to go back to the United States on a ship throughout that time. Espulgar was additionally fined $3,000.00.
The UNITED STATE Coast Guard Investigative Service as well as the UNITED STATE Environmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigation Division performed the examination. Assistant UNITED STATE Attorney Kim Chisholm as well as Department of Justice, Environmental Crimes Section Senior Trial Attorney Kenneth Nelson prosecuted the situation.
