Shipping Cos. Get $2M Penalty for Dumping Oil Waste Into Ocean

Shipping companies Prive Overseas Marine and Prive Shipping Denizcilik Ticaret were sentenced last week to pay a $2 million criminal penalty after pleading guilty to dumping oil-contaminated waste into the ocean, DOJ announced. The companies operated the P/S Dream, the vessel from which the waste was released, and will both also undergo a four-year probationary period.

The vessel's captain, Turkish national Abdurrahman Korkmaz, was sentenced earlier this month to eight months in prison for his conduct related to the scheme, DOJ said.

While the P/S Dream was headed to New Orleans in January 2023, Korkmaz arranged to discharge the waste from a residual tank on deck into the ocean, DOJ said. A portable pump was rigged to dump the contents of the tank over three days. The vessel's oil record book was "falsified" by "omitting the discharge," DOJ said. The companies pleaded guilty to conspiracy, obstruction of justice and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.