Asia/Pacific News
Ship Owner Fined over New Zealand Spill
The owners of a containership that spilled 1,000 litres of bunker fuel into New Zealand's Tauranga Harbour last year have been fined NZD30,000 ($25,700), New Zealand News reports.
The Environment Court at Tauranga issued the sentence to MS "Jule" Schiffahrtgesellschargt GMBH & Co. KG of Germany, with the judge saying the fine took into account more than NZD17,000 ($14,600) that the company has already paid to clean up the spill.
The container ship Liloa spilled the heavy fuel oil (HFO) on July 3, 2013 after a miscommunication between ship engineers resulted in the HFO being directed into a tank that had limited capacity.
The New Zealand Herald reported after the incident that the spill raised concerns about local authorities' policies on publicising information about oil spills.
