Legal/Safety

Pipeline spill investigators board MSC box ship

U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) marine casualty investigators boarded the 14,028 TEU containership MSC Danit on Saturday, in the Port of Long Beach.

Prior to the visit, U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Braden Rostad, Chief of Investigations, Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach determined that the MSC Danit was involved in a January 25, 2021, anchor-dragging incident during a heavy weather event that impacted the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The anchor-dragging...

https://www.marinelog.com/legal-safety/environment/pipeline-spill-investigators-board-msc-box-ship/

Diana-Wilhelmsen JV ordered to pay $2 million fine in pollution case

Cyprus-based Diana Wilhelmsen Management Limited (DWM), was yesterday sentenced to pay a fine of $2 million after pleading guilty to violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships involving the 73,530 dwt bulker Protefs. Imposing sentence in federal court in Norfolk, Va., U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith also placed the company on probation for a period of four years, and ordered it to implement a comprehensive Environmental Compliance Plan as a special condition of probation.

DWM—a...

https://www.marinelog.com/shipping/environment/diana-wilhelmsen-jv-ordered-to-pay-2-million-fine-in-pollution-case/

Another guilty plea in “Fat Leonard” case

U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Enrico DeGuzman has become the second of the “Seventh Fleet Nine” to enter a guilty plea in the ongoing “Fat Leonard” case.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, DeGuzman pleaded guilty to a bribery charge September 3, admitting that he accepted more than $67,000 in meals, drinks, entertainment and hotel stays in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo from foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis.

DeGuzman was one of nine...

https://www.marinelog.com/news/another-guilty-plea-in-fat-leonard-case/

Fourth mariner credential scammer heads for slammer

Lamont Godfrey, 43, of Virginia Beach, Va., was sentenced to 45 months in prison, August 16, for mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Godfrey became the fourth person to receive a prison term in relation to a scheme to create and sell fake merchant mariner credentials that first came to light when charges were brought against the four last October.

According to court documents, from July 2016 to December 2019, Godfrey and three others—Eugene Johnson, 46, of Manteca, Calif.;...

https://www.marinelog.com/news/fourth-mariner-credential-scammer-heads-for-slammer/

Coast Guard arrests Maryland fishing boat operator

U.S. Coast Guard Fifth District, Annapolis, Md., reports that on July 21 Coast Guard Investigative Service special agents arrested the operator of a charter boat called Fishing Lady for violating a U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port Order issued pursuant to the Ports and Waterways Safety Act.

The Coast Guard says that the operator, Terrance Dale Roy, also failed to properly report a hazardous condition as required by regulations and operated his boat in a grossly negligent manner.

Roy was...

https://www.marinelog.com/inland-coastal/tugs-barges/coast-guard-arrests-maryland-fishing-boat-operator/

Kirby awarded $17.4 million in Houston Channel collision case

In a July 8 ruling, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Vincent Brown has awarded Kirby Inland Marine $17,398,488 in a case stemming from the May 10, 2019, Houston Ship Channel incident in which the LPG carrier Genesis River collided with a 297 foot long tank barge being pushed ahead by the 69 foot long Kirby Inland Marine towing vessel Voyager.

As a result of the collision, two cargo tanks in the barge were breached, spilling petrochemical cargo into the waterway, and a second barge in the Voyager tow...

https://www.marinelog.com/inland-coastal/inland/kirby-awarded-17-4-million-in-houston-channel-collision-case/

Cybercrime on the seas

By Maura Keller

The maritime industry is constantly evolving. With the advent of new technologies and a greater focus on operational efficiency, cybersecurity has stepped out of the background and the IT back offices to the forefront of the industry. Maritime cybersecurity incidents can cost multi-millions of dollars in losses to a shipping company, stevedores and financial institutions. In addition, the hacking or distortion of manifests can reflect fraudulent cargo entering a port, such as...

https://www.marinelog.com/ports-terminals/cybercrime-on-the-seas/

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