Americas News
$1.25M Fine for Suspected Bunker Leak Ship at Port of Long Beach
A German shipping company has been fined $1.25 million over a possible fuel leak at the U.S. Port of Long Beach last year, local newspaper the Long Beach Press Telegram reports.
Herm. Dauelsberg GmbH & Co. KG pleaded guilty to two felony charges over failing to maintain accurate records involving overboard fuel disposal and not reporting a hazardous condition to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The company's Panamax M/V Bellavia had a crack in its hull that reached a fuel tank, allowing the entry of water, and the crew pumped almost 120,000 of oil-contaminated seawater back into the ocean without filtering out the oil.
A U.S. district court judge applied the statutory maximum fine of $1 million, plus a $250,000 payment to support enforcement of environmental and public safety regulations.
"We think this is a very serious case and companies that come into our ports need to be completely honest with the Coast Guard," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark A. Williams.
"If they are taking advantage of our ports, they can't dump oil and lie to the Coast Guard about it."
Members of the ship's crew provided the Coast Guard with evidence of the lawbreaking, including photos and video, and they were rewarded with part of the fine levied on the company.
Bellavia is a 5,117 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containership built in 2005, according to the company website.
