Greek Oil Tanker Owner Ordered by US Court to Pay $2.25 Million for Ocean Pollution

A file photograph of a judge's gavel. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A Rhode Island court has ordered the owner of a Greek oil tanker to pay $2.25 million for discharging oil bilge water into the ocean and failing to report a hazardous condition during a trans-Atlantic voyage.

U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy on Aug. 8 sentenced Zeus Lines Management S.A., which owns the tanker Gallissas, to pay $1.68 million in fines and an additional $562,500 community service payment over safety and environmental violations aboard the tanker bound for the United States.

The community service payment will go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund projects that benefit Rhode Island’s marine and coastal natural resources.

The company, along with the Gallissas’ captain and chief engineer, had agreed to the penalties in May.

“Additionally, Zeus will serve a four-year term of probation, during which any vessels operated by the company and calling on U.S. ports will be required to implement a robust environmental compliance plan,” the U.S. attorney’s office in the District of Rhode Island said.

The captain and chief engineer were also sentenced to terms of probation.

The Gallissas was transporting diesel cargo from Rotterdam, Netherlands, to Rhode Island in February 2022 when it discharged nearly 10,000 gallons of oily bilge water into the ocean.

“Oily bilge water typically contains oil contamination from the operation and cleaning of machinery on the vessel,” the attorney’s office said.

Chief Engineer Roberto Cayabyab Penaflor admitted to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for knowingly discharging untreated oily bilge water directly from the tanker into the sea, federal prosecutors said.

The bilge water was not processed through required pollution prevention equipment, and the illegal discharges were not recorded in the vessel’s oil record book, as required by law, prosecutors said.

The Gallissas’ captain, Master Jose Ervin Mahinge Porquez, previously admitted to violating the Ports and Waterways Safety Act for failing to report to the Coast Guard, prior to entering Rhode Island waters, that the system ensuring safe oxygen levels within cargo tanks was inoperable.

When the Coast Guard was informed, it found that oxygen levels registered more than double the allowable limit and ordered the vessel to move farther offshore so it did not endanger the community of Newport.

Fraudulent Logbook

Additionally, the captain created a fraudulent logbook showing safe oxygen levels during the voyage, which was presented to the Coast Guard during an inspection.

“Everyday thousands of ships safely call on U.S. ports and handle nearly 95% of US trade that drives our economy and provides for our national security. By sailing into a major U.S. port with a known faulty inert gas generator, the operator, and senior officers of the Galissas endangered not only their shipmates but also the people of Rhode Island,” Rear Adm. John Mauger, Commander of the First Coast Guard District said in a May 3 statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.