Ship’s chief engineer, owner, manager indicted for dumping oil at sea
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Portland, Ore., has filed charges against Shashank Pendse, chief engineer on the 'Spring Drake' and a citizen of India, for allegedly dumping oil at sea.
Also indicted were MMS Co. Ltd., a Japanese company that manages the vessel, and the ship’s owner, Grus Line Shipping S.A., a Panamanian company.
In August, the U.S. Coast Guard inspected the 'Spring Drake' while it was docked in Portland loading grain. The indictment alleges, from evidence found by the Coast Guard, that the ship dumped oil and oily sludge at sea through a pipe that bypassed the vessel’s pollution control equipment, and that the defendants attempted to conceal evidence of the illegal discharges by making false entries in the 'Spring Drake’s' Oil Record Book.