Two chief engineers from the 16,000-dwt open-hatch bulker Kent Navigator (built 1977) have been fined for concealing the dumping of oil waste into the sea off the US.

Filipinos Felipe Arcolas and Alfredo Lozada must pay $3,000 each and were sentenced to two years’ probation for falsifying log books and making statements designed to deceive the US Coast Guard (USCG).

They pleaded guilty to the offences in September 2004.

The investigation into their actions began when the USCG received an anonymous tip that a vessel bound for Portland was illegally discharging its waste oil and bilges while at sea.

The USCG inspected the Kent Navigator when it entered Portland and found oily residue in piping that led to overboard discharge valves and inoperable oil pollution control equipment.

Lozada and Arcolas directed the ship’s crew to discharge waste oil tanks and bilge tanks directly overboard, and also discharged the bilges in a way that circumvented the ship’s oily water separator.

These discharges were made in the middle of the night and resulted in discharge of significant quantities of oil.

US District Judge Brock Hornby, in Maine, also ordered that Lozada and Arcolas spend the first month of their probation confined to their temporary residence in Portland, where they have been living since they were removed from their ship last summer by the USCG and charged with making false statements.

The two will be allowed to return to their homes in the Philippines to serve out their probation terms, subject to US court supervision.

The vessel, owned by Petraia Maritime of the British Virgin Islands, was held in Canada for 10 days in October with structured defects.