South Korean firm fined $750,000 in oil water discharge case

Doorae Shipping will also make a community service payment of $200,000 after pleading guilty to charges that it failed to maintain an accurate oil record book and made false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard concerning the discharge of oily bilge water.    South Korean shipping company Doorae Shipping Co. has been fined $750,000 and agreed to a community service payment of $200,000 after pleading guilty to charges that it failed to maintain an accurate oil record book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, and made false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard concerning the discharge of oil contaminated bilge water.
   The U.S. Attorney in Hawaii said information produced to the court established that instead of running bilge water through an oil water separator, the chief engineer of the B. Sky, a Vanuatu-flag ship operated by Doorae, discharged over 500 gallons of oily machinery space bilge water directly into the ocean.
   International and U.S. law requires that these vessels use pollution prevention equipment to preclude the discharge of potentially hazardous materials. Should any overboard discharges occur, they must be recorded in an oil record book, a log that is inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard.
   The court approved the payment of the $200,000 community service payment, per an agreement between the government and Doorae to be donated to the National Fish and Wildlife Service Foundation to fund projects that preserve and enhance coral reefs and reef ecosystems in Hawaii.
   In addition, the court also took the guilty plea of the Chief Engineer of the B. Sky, Jeung Mun, to one charge of causing the maintenance of a faulty oil record book in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. The court scheduled Mun’s sentencing for July 27, 2016.