Jordan ship manager pleads guilty to oily bilge dumping

   The U.S. Justice Department said Jordan-based Arab Ship Management Ltd. pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Wilmington, Del., to one count of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.
   According to the plea agreement, Arab Ship Management was sentenced to pay a criminal penalty of $500,000 and placed on probation for two years, during which time ships operated by the company will be banned from calling on U.S. ports.
   “Marine Inspectors detected serious problems with the ship’s operations,” said Capt. Kathy Moore, U.S. Coast Guard commander of Sector Delaware Bay. “They dove into the details and worked with the Department of Justice and the Coast Guard Investigative Service to bring this case to an appropriate resolution.”
   According to court documents and statements made in court, Arab Ship Management operated the Neameh, a 6,398-gross-ton ocean-going livestock carrier. On March 28, 2013, the Coast Guard boarded the vessel in the Delaware Bay Big Stone Anchorage to conduct an inspection. The inspection and subsequent criminal investigation revealed heavy oil sludge inside the piping on the discharge side of the pollution prevention equipment leading directly overboard, where no oil sludge should be if the pollution prevention equipment is operated properly, the Coast Guard said.
   Coast Guard inspectors also found the vessel’s piping arrangement had been modified in a prohibited way to allow oil sludge to be pumped directly overboard. This piping arrangement was removed prior to the vessel’s arrival in Delaware. In addition, the Coast Guard was presented with two oil record books that contained different and contradictory entries from Nov. 30, 2011, to Jan. 2, 2012, as well as fake oily waste disposal receipts.