Chief Engineer, Kirill Kompaniets, Pleads Guilty to Intentional Discharge of Oily Waste and Obstruction of Justice
The MV GANNET BULKER, owned by Gannet Shipping LLC and managed by Eagle Ship Management LLC of Stamford was at anchor in the Southwest Passage of New Orleans. The vessel had been having trouble with the Ballast Water Treatment System (“BWTS”). The engineers attempted to replace some valves, but in the course of the work, when they started to open a valve, it exploded, and water began flooding the engine room. They stopped the flooding in about 30 minutes, at which point the bilges were filled. The vessel did not report the incident to the Coast Guard. That night, Chief Engineer (“CE”) Kompaniets and one other engineer discharged the bilges of approximately 39 m3 directly overboard using the emergency fire pump. He did not log the discharge in the oil record book (“ORB”). At the time of the discharge, the emergency was over, and the vessel was stable.
A whistleblower notified the Coast Guard of the discharge via social media. The whistleblower also notified a supervisor of the incident, and told him that he had notified the Coast Guard. Prior to the Coast Guard arrival on board, the CE had the engineers clean up from the flooding, and he fabricated an ORB entry to claim that only 2 m3 had flooded, and was transferred to the bilge holding tank. He also had an engineer remove and destroy the alarm system printout along with having all the engineers delete photos and communications from their cellphones that might show or indicate the flooding. The CE had multiple meetings with the engineers to tell them to lie to the Coast Guard. Then, CE Kompaniets created false disciplinary documents attempting to discredit the whistleblower. When the Coast Guard came on board, the CE denied the flooding. He also denied knowing how to check the engineering computer to show the times of operation for the emergency pump. Perhaps needless to say, CE Kompaniets gave the Coast Guard the false disciplinary pages in an attempt to portray the whistleblower as a lying malcontent.
The other engineers ultimately told the Coast Guard the truth about what happened, and the CE ultimately confessed. However, the CE claimed that he did the discharge and coverup at the direction of the Master. The Dept. of Justice has not yet posted charges against the companies or the Master. The original incident was March 18, 2021. The vessel and relevant witnesses have been in the US since that date. Sentencing for CE Kompaniets is scheduled for September 1, 2022.
The original Dept. of Justice press release is available here.
United States of America v. Kirill Kompaniets (2:22-cr-00066-NJB-KWR)