Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab AS, Environmental Crimes, Alabama 2023

A federal jury in Mobile, Alabama, has convicted Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab AS (DSD Shipping) of environmental crimes, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama.

The Norwegian-based shipping company operates crude oil tankers, including the M/T Stavanger Blossom. Also convicted at trial were three senior engineering officers, Bo Gao, Xiaobing Chen, and Xin Zhong, employed by DSD Shipping to work aboard the vessel. A fourth employee, Daniel Paul Dancu, pleaded guilty in October.

The operation of marine vessels, like the M/T Stavanger Blossom, generates large quantities of waste oil and oil-contaminated waste water. International and U.S. law requires that these vessels use pollution prevention equipment, known as an oily-water separator, to preclude the discharge of these materials.

“We will not tolerate the continued use of the world’s oceans as a dumping ground for contaminated waste,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden. “These defendants deliberately and egregiously violated the law and fouled the marine environment by dumping waste, then tried to cover it up with false records.

Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab AS, Environmental Crimes, Alabama 2023 Defendant/Respondent: Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab AS (DSD Shipping) Exact Criminal Charges: violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), witness tampering, and conspiracy City and State: Mobile, Alabama Exact Date: January 2010 Sentence or Outcome: convicted with three senior engineering officers, Bo Gao, Xiaobing Chen, and Xin Zhong, employed by DSD Shipping to work aboard the vessel Dollar Amounts: None

U.S. Attorney Brown stated, “I am pleased with the record of this office in pursuing environmental crimes. We will continue to prosecute corporations and individuals to protect our resources here along the Gulf Coast as well as around the world.”

“The oceans cannot be used as dumping grounds,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Andy Castro of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) criminal enforcement program in Alabama. “The defendants in this case falsified entries in their vessel’s log books to hide the true nature of its open water discharges.

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