Operators of PS Dream fined $2 million, captain gets prison term
Written by Nick Blenkey
PS Dream [USCG photo]
Two corporations that operated the motor tanker PS Dream — Prive Overseas Marine LLC and Prive Shipping Denizcilik Ticaret — were sentenced Friday in federal court in New Orleans to pay a $2 million criminal penalty and complete four years of probation. The companies pleaded guilty in May to charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS).
Separate charges were filed against Captain Abdurrahman Korkmaz, 37, a Turkish national who was the ship’s master. On September 10, the court sentenced him to eight months in prison for an APPS offense and obstructing the U.S. Coast Guard’s investigation.
The charges pertain to the investigation of the PS Dream when it was heading to New Orleans in January 2023. Senior corporate managers were aware that Korkmaz had arranged to discharge oil-contaminated waste from a residual tank on deck into the ocean. The captain ordered the crew to pump the waste overboard and clean the tank with soap. The seamen rigged a portable pump to empty the contents overboard over three days. The defendants falsified the vessel’s oil record book by omitting the discharge.
One of the crew members alerted the Coast Guard and shared videos of the discharge and resulting oil sheen. When the ship arrived in Louisiana, another crew member came forward and gave the Coast Guard a recording of an officer discussing the discharge.
Video and photographic images provided by the whistleblowers were filed in court by the prosecutors.
