Mexican Ship Manager Caught Hiding Oily Water Discharges
Gremex Shipping S.A. de C.V., a Mexican ship management company has pleaded guilty to providing false records to the U.S. Coast Guard to conceal its illegal discharge of oily bilge waste, a felony violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS).
The charge stems from a Coast Guard investigation of the cement carrier Suhar once it arrived in Pensacola, Florida, on August 25, 2023. The 7,602 gross ton Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier routinely hauled cement from Tampico, Mexico, to Pensacola.
After boarding the ship to determine compliance with all applicable laws, Coast Guard personnel determined that the vessel’s crew had regularly discharged untreated oily bilge water into the sea by bypassing the oily water separator onboard and then falsified the ship’s oil record book to conceal the discharges.
Consistent with a sentencing recommendation jointly proposed by the government and Gremex, the court sentenced the company to pay a $1.75 million fine, serve a four-year term of probation and commit to developing and implementing an environmental compliance plan that will be in effect during the time the company is on probation.