- A Singapore-based shipping company was fined $1,650,000.
- Unix Line PTE Ltd pleaded guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.
- It was placed on probation for a period of four years.
- Ordered to implement a comprehensive Environmental Compliance Plan as a special condition of probation.
- The company was sentenced for oil bilge discharge into the sea and for concealment of evidence.
According to an article published in the United States Department of Justice, a Singapore-based shipping company was sentenced after pleading guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.
Company fined for pollution
On March 21, Unix Line PTE Ltd., a Singapore-based shipping company, was sentenced Friday in federal court before U.S. District Court Judge Jon S. Tigar in Oakland, California, after previously pleading guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.
Unix Line PTE Ltd. was sentenced to pay a fine of $1,650,000.00, placed on probation for a period of four years, and ordered to implement a comprehensive Environmental Compliance Plan as a special condition of probation.
Guilty of discharging oily bilge water
In pleading guilty, Unix Line admitted that its crew members onboard the Zao Galaxy, a 16,408 gross-ton, ocean-going motor tanker, knowingly failed to record in the vessel’s oil record book the overboard discharge of oily bilge water without the use of required pollution-prevention equipment, during the vessel’s voyage from the Philippines to Richmond, California.
Deliberate concealment of evidence
“Deliberately concealing illegal discharges of oil waste into our oceans is a federal crime we will not tolerate,” said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This sentencing shows that polluting our oceans and misleading the Coast Guard will cost you.”
“The defendant’s crew members intentionally discharged oily bilge waste into the ocean on their voyage to California,” said U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson of the Northern District of California. “Our district includes hundreds of miles of the beautiful Pacific coast, stretching from Monterey to Del Norte County. We will do our part to protect those natural resources and hold companies responsible when they fail to follow federal and international laws designed to protect our oceans from pollution.”
Criminal investigation to continue crackdown measures
“The Coast Guard Investigative Service will continue to make criminal investigations that deter maritime organizations from breaking international and U.S. law designed to protect our finite natural marine resources a priority,” said Kelly Hoyle, Special Agent in Charge Pacific Region of the Coast Guard Investigative Service.
On October 24, 2019, Unix Line was indicted by a federal Grand Jury of obstruction of justice and a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. Under the plea agreement, Unix Line pled guilty to one count of a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.
Terms of the plea agreement
According to the plea agreement, Unix Line is the operator of the Zao Galaxy, which set sail from the Philippines on January 21, 2019, heading toward Richmond, California, carrying a cargo of palm oil. On February 11, 2019, the Zao Galaxy arrived in Richmond, where it underwent a U.S. Coast Guard inspection and examination. Examiners discovered that during the voyage, a Unix Line-affiliated ship officer directed crew members to discharge oily bilge water overboard, using a configuration of drums, flexible pipes, and flanges to bypass the vessel’s oil-water separator. The discharges were knowingly not recorded in the Zao Galaxy’s oil record book when it was presented to the U.S. Coast Guard during the vessel’s inspection.
Jury members
Senior Trial Attorney Kenneth Nelson of the Environmental Crimes Section, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Lloyd-Lovett, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Briggs, Kay Konopaske and Katie Turner, of the Northern District of California, is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of a year-long investigation by the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the Investigations Division of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco.
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Source: USDepartmentofJustice
