U.S. Fines Mexican Shipping Company $1.75 Million for Pollution Cover-Up

In the latest case in the United States’ ongoing crack down against marine pollution, Mexico-based shipmanager Gremex Shipping S.A. has been sentenced for deliberately concealing illegal discharges of oily bilge waste into the ocean.

The company, which manages several ships including the Panamanian-flagged cement carrier M/V Suhar, pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) in a federal district court in Pensacola, Florida.

The case emerged following a Coast Guard investigation of the Suhar upon its arrival in Pensacola on August 25, 2023. The vessel, which regularly transported cement from Tampico, Mexico, to Pensacola, had been under Gremex’s operational control since March 2021.

Coast Guard personnel discovered that the ship’s crew had been routinely discharging untreated oily bilge water directly into the sea, bypassing the onboard pollution control equipment. To conceal these illegal activities, the crew falsified the ship’s oil record book, a critical document used to monitor compliance with international marine pollution regulations.

The case underscores the importance of MARPOL, an international treaty to which both the United States and Panama are signatories. MARPOL regulates the discharge of oily bilge water, requiring ships to process it through an oily water separator before release. Maintaining an accurate oil record book is mandated by federal law for all foreign ships entering U.S. ports.

In a joint recommendation by the government and Gremex, the court imposed a substantial penalty on the company. The sentence includes a $1.75 million fine, a four-year probation term, and the requirement to develop and implement a comprehensive environmental compliance plan for the duration of the probation.

The case was investigated by the Coast Guard’s Investigative Service.

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