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MSC, Spirit Shipping and Trading and crew members guilty in MARPOL case
The MSC Shipmanagement and the Spirit Shipping and Trading, the Hong Kong based owner of the 'MSC Samira III', each pleaded guilty to two counts in a MARPOL case in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Court and were fined a total of $1.75 million. Mikhail Tsurikov, the 2nd engineer of the vessel involved in the case has also pleaded guilty and was scheduled for sentencing on Sep 10, 2026. According to court documents, between June and September 2024, senior officers in the engine department of the 'MSC Samira III' instructed lower-level crew members to pump oily bilge water from the vessel’s bilge holding tank to the sewage holding tank using portable pumps and hoses. The crew members then discharged the oily bilge water into the sea using the sewage holding tank’s overboard discharge valve. In doing so, they bypassed the oil water separator. In addition to these discharges of oily waste from the vessel’s sewage holding tank, on several occasions between September 2024 and January 2025, senior engine department crew members also tricked the oil water separator by running fresh water instead of oily bilge water through the equipment’s oil content monitor. Doing so allowed them to discharge oily bilge water directly into the sea through the oil water separator. The 'MSC Samira III' made two separate calls in the Port of Philadelphia, at which time the U.S. Coast Guard were presented false oil record books. By U.S. and international law, all oil discharges must be recorded in a record book, but U.S. Coast Guard inspectors found that the officers in charge of these operations failed to do so. The vessel was detained for three days on Jan 9, 2025, after an inspection found oil accumulation in the engine room, issues with the emergency generator, and maintenance issues with the ship and its equipment. On its return call in Philadelphia on Jan 27, 2025, the oil discharge issues were discovered, and the vessel was detained for 13 days. Mikhail Tsurikov had previously pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and is awaiting sentencing. In addition to the combined fine of $1.75 million, The MSC Shipmanagement and the Spirit Shipping and Trading were also sentenced to serve four years of probation.
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