Two Marousi, Greece, based firms– Avin International as well as Nicos I.V. Special Maritime Enterprises– will certainly pay a $4 million penalty as well as offer a four-year regard to probation on fees associating with numerous discharges of oil right into the waters of Texas ports by the oil vessel M/T Nicos I.V.
Avin International is the driver as well as Nicos I.V. Special Maritime Enterprises is the proprietor of the Greek- flagged vessel.
Both firms begged guilty to one matter of blockage of a company case, one matter of failing to report discharge of oil under the Clean Water Act.
The Master of the Nicos I.V., Rafail-Thomas Tsoumakos, as well as the vessel’s Chief Officer, Alexios Thomopoulos, likewise begged guilty to making product incorrect declarations to participants of the United States Coast Guard throughout the examination right into the discharges. They were punished to pay penalties of $10,000 each onDec 20, 2018.
According to files submitted in court, eventually before July 6, 2017, the ballast system of the Nicos I.V. ended up being infected with oil which oil was released two times from the vessel right into the Port of Houston on July 6 as well as July 7, 2017, throughout deballasting procedures. Both Tsoumakos as well as Thomopoulos were educated of the discharges of oil in the Port ofHouston Tsoumakos stopped working to report the discharges, which, as the boss of the vessel, he was needed to do under theClean Water Act Neither discharge was taped in the vessel’s oil document publication, as needed under MARPOL as well as the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.
After leaving the Port of Houston, en course to Port Arthur, Texas, oil was observed in numerous of the ballast storage tanks. After getting here in Port Arthur, extra oil started gurgling up beside the vessel, which was after that reported to the united stateCoast Guard During the following examination, both Tsoumakos as well as Thomopoulos existed to the Coast Guard, mentioning, to name a few points, that they had actually not understood the oil in the ballast system up until after the discharge in Port Arthur, which they thought that the oil in the ballast storage tanks had actually entered them when the vessel tackled ballast water in Port Arthur.
