MSC Ship Management to pay $10.5 million in U.S. oil pollution case

MSC Ship Management to pay $10.5 million in U.S. oil pollution case    MSC Ship Management (Hong Kong) Ltd. has pleaded guilty to U.S. charges that it engaged in conspiracy, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, false statements and violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships in a case involving illegal oil discharges.
   If the court approves the plea agreement, MSC Ship Management will pay $10.5 million, the largest fine against a single vessel for deliberate oil pollution and the largest criminal fine paid by a defendant in an environmental case in Massachusetts' history, the U.S. Justice Department said in a Dec. 19 statement.
   MSC Ship Management will also be placed on probation for five years during which the company must operate under a U.S. government-approved environmental compliance plan. The plan includes reviews by an independent auditor on any of MSC Ship Management’s 81 ships that trade in the United States, and oversight of those audits by a court-approved monitor.
   According to the plea agreement, MSC Ship Management used a specially fitted steel pipe, also called a “magic pipe,' on board the 30,971-ton containership “MSC Elena” to circumvent required ship pollution prevention equipment and discharge oily waste directly overboard.
   U.S. Coast Guard inspectors discovered the bypass equipment in Boston Harbor on May 16, 2005. Senior company officials in Hong Kong directed crewmembers to lie to the Coast Guard. Also, senior ship engineers ordered documents be destroyed and concealed.
   The Justice Department said MSC Ship Management discharged about 40 tons or 10,640 gallons of sludge during a five-month period in 2004 through a three-piece bypass pipe made on the ship. The government believes an even larger volume of oily bilge was discharged through a rubber hose and portable pump. The “MSC Elena” made regular voyages between ports in Europe and the United States, including Boston.
   In two related prosecutions, the chief engineer of the “MSC Elena,” Mani Singh, was indicted in November and has agreed to plead guilty at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 20. Aman Mahana, the ship’s second engineer, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1. Sentencings for Singh and Mahana will take place early next year, the Justice Department said.