Magic pipe – igjen

Det het da at “Skip som «Höegh Minerva» har utstyr ombord for å håndtere waste oil, men likevel ble et bypass rør fabrikkert slik at mannskapet kunne pumpe ubehandlet forurenset olje direkte overbord.”
Det som skjedde var at ombord i «Höegh Minerva» ble det laget en by-pass rørledning montert på det eksisterende rørsystemet for olje-vann separatoren med det resultat at mannskapet kunne pumpe ubehandlet kontaminert vann direkte overbord fra skipet til sjøen. Dette ble ikke ført i “Oil Record Book” slik som loven tilsier. I stedet forfalsket mannskapet dokumenter ombord for å skjule det som fant sted for inspektørene fra U.S. Coast Guard.
Rørledningen som ble kalt “the magic pipe” viste seg altså å ikke bli særlig magisk for skipet.
Nå er det falt nok en “Magic pipe” dom – vi siterer:
A Shipowner, a ship operator and a chief engineer were all sentenced last week by the US District Court for the Northern District of California after pleading guilty to conspiring to falsify waste oil disposal records related to the intentional disposal of waste oil into the ocean while in international waters.
Casilda Shipping Ltd, the Maltese owner of the 23,000 dwt cargo vessel «Rio Gold», was ordered to pay a fine of $750,000 and to serve three years’ probation. Genesis Seatrading Corporation, the vessel’s Greek operating company, was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to comply with an extensive three-year environmental compliance plan. And Pantelis Thomas, the vessel's chief engineer, was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.
In pleading guilty, the defendants admitted to using a “magic pipe” to bypass the anti-pollution equipment on the ship. They had ordered the crew to illegally use the magic pipe to discharge waste oil directly into the ocean and concealed their illegal overboard discharges by making false entries into and omissions from the ship’s onboard records.
The violations came to the attention of the US Coast Guard after the «Rio Gold» docked in Oakland, California, on May 26, 2008, when four crew members reported the illegal activities. A subsequent inspection of the vessel uncovered the magic pipe disassembled and stored away, along with evidence of its consistent use.
The indictment against the defendants alleged that the illegal dumping of waste oil began when the vessel was first purchased in July 2007 and continued until shortly before the vessel docked in Oakland in May 2008.
.. og nok en sak
I 2007 ble maskinsjefen ombord i bilskipet«Tanabata» dømt for konspirasjon og falske forklaringer i forbindelse med et bypass rør eller “magic pipe”. Rederiet Pacific Gulf Marine erkjente skyld og ble dømt for ulovlig lossing av forurenset oljeavfall fra fire av rederiets skip. Boten ble på $1,5 millioner med tre års prøvetid.
Hvorfor er det bare i USA de finner synderne? Er det bare der det blir foretatt kontroller?