The U.S. Coast Guard is cracking down on all kinds of violations and criminal activity in the maritime industry, so much that it's "almost a daily occurrence," according to maritime lawyer Jeanne Grasso of the Washington law firm Blank Rome.
Grasso was a speaker Tuesday morning at the Marine Log Tugs & Barges Conference & Expo 2007 in Stamford, Connecticut, a gathering of about 150 people at the downtown Marriott hotel. Outside it's all sunny skies, but inside the focus in the morning session was on the turbulent legal and regulatory waters facing owners and operators of tugboats and barges, vessels responsible for ferrying giant tankers through waterways, delivering bunker fuel, and carrying people on ferries.
Grasso mentioned a few examples of egregious behavior on the water in the last year or so, drawing the ire of the Coast Guard and/or various authorities responsible for monitoring wrong-doing at our ports and waterways.
These included the killing of a humpback whale by a Princess Cruise Lines ship, cited for "knowingly" traveling too fast, violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act and fined $750,000; a $37-million fine (and three years' probation) slapped on tanker giant OSG for violating environmental laws, brought to the attention of the authorities by "crew members" under a whistleblower protection plan; and a death at Mobile, Alabama, after a vessel's "bowthruster failed" knocking over a crane, killing an electrician on the dock.
The Coast Guard is also known to be increasing surveillance, (using satellite technology) of illegal dumping of trash and waste oil at sea. It's also boarding vessels in search of record-keeping violations and making sure vessels are burning fuel that meets maximum sulfur (and NO2 and particulate matter) limits.
"The perception is that the marine industry is not doing things right," Grasso said. "The government is finding too many violations."
It would be interesting to get a reaction to what appears to be a regulatory offensive against the maritime industry.
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