Japanese shipping firm will pay $1.75 million fine

Japanese shipping firm will pay $1.75 million fine A Japanese cargo ship operator pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $1.75 million fine as part of a plea agreement growing out of an oil water pollution case.
   Hiong Guan Navegacion Japan Co. Ltd., operator of the commercial cargo ship Balsa 62, agreed Monday to plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Fla., to conspiracy and to falsifying and failing to properly maintain oil waste records.
   The government said the company pleaded guilty to falsifying the oil record book kept onboard the Balsa 62. Federal and international law requires that ships comply with pollution regulations that include the proper disposal of oily water and sludge by passing the oily water through an oily-water separator aboard the vessel or burning the sludge in the ship’s incinerator.
   According to the plea agreement, from June 2007 through February 2008 the ship's chief engineer directed the crew to use a bypass or “magic pipe,” to circumvent the pollution prevention equipment onboard the ship and discharge oily water and sludge directly overboard and into the ocean about twice a month.
   The maximum penalties that Hiong Guan faces include fines of $500,000 per felony count, a term of probation of five years and a special assessment of $400 per felony count. According to the plea agreement, Hiong Guan has agreed to pay a $1.75 million fine and implement a detailed environmental compliance plan, which requires monitoring of its fleet-wide operations for three years.