The revelation follows a US Coast Guard (USCG) inspection that led to the detention of the 73,600-dwt Thetis (built 2004), which was held in Hampton Roads Virginia for nearly a week late last month after authorities uncovered deficiencies related to the ship’s oily water separator (OWS).
In a subsequent report, inspectors said: “The PSCO (port state control officer) discovered the vessel's crew is discharging the oily water mixture collected in the machinery space bilge wells into the sea utilizing the emergency bilge piping system through an unapproved bypass without processing the mixtures through the approved oil filtering equipment.
“This
