Ukraine Fines Ship Masters

Ukraine environmental and customs authorities are punishing ship masters with excessive fines for simple operational errors, reports TradeWinds quoting the leading protection–and-indemnity (P&I) clubs. 

A spate of fines for misdeclaration of bunkers is described as a “braze practice of wringing money out of foreign-flag vessels”. 

The 2 big issues for ships trading to the Ukraine are customs fines for misdeclaration of bunkers and environmental fines for contaminated ballast-water exchange. 

Fines of between $2,500 and $10,000 have been handed out by Ukraine customs for “bunker smuggling”, when more bunkers are found on board than have been declared. This often occurs simply because the chief engineer takes a bunker sounding a week before entry into port. The fines can be avoid, however, if bunker sounding are taken immediately prior to entry into the port. 

Fines for failure to comply with local ballast-water rules can be between $40,000 and $60,000. Owners can try to avoid the fines by taking extra precautions in ballasting operators.