Two engineers of tanker convicted of illegal discharge of oily bilge water
A federal jury in Charleston, South Carolina, convicted two chief engineers of the "Green Sky" of falsifying documents in order to conceal illegal discharges of oily bilge waste, so called 'magic pipe incidents', and obstruction charges. Herbert Julian, who served as Chief Engineer between Aug 3 and Sep 4, 2015, was convicted of two felony counts under the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and for obstruction of justice. Panagiotis Koutoukakis, Chief Engineer from Feb 1 to Aug 3, 2015, was convicted of two felony counts, one for APPS and another for falsifying records. It was also revealed in court documents, which were unsealed after the verdicts were rendered, that the Aegean Shipping Management, a foreign company with operations in Greece that acted as the Green Sky’s operator, previously pleaded guilty to a violation of the APPS and obstruction of justice. The "Green Sky", which first set sail in July 2014, had unusual internal leaks that produced greater quantities of oily waste than a normal ship of its age and construction. Oily bilge waste must be removed from the vessel lest it fill up the bottom of the Engine Room and cause damage to equipment and jeopardise the safe handling of the ship. However, the law does not permit an oceangoing vessel to discharge these oily wastes directly into the sea and the use of an oily water separator is an essential. The evidence presented to the jury showed that the "Green Sky" was regularly pumping contaminated and oily water directly overboard. None of these discharges were disclosed as required. The oil record book of the Green Sky was falsified to cover-up illegal overboard discharges of oily wastes from February to August 2015. Methods of falsification included omitting illegal bypass operations, claiming that the oil water separator was used when it had not been, and a series of false entries regarding the levels of the bilge holding tank, which were designed to further the cover-up.
