German shipping company AML Ship Management GMBH and the chief engineer onboard one of its vessels agreed to plead guilty to illegally dumping oily water off Alaska, writes the Associated Press (AP).
The US prosecutors said that Nicolas Sassin, the chief engineer on the AML-operated ship City of Tokyo, used an illegal pump system to dump 4,500 gallons untreated oily bilge water over the side of the ship on August 29, bypassing the oil-water separator and other pollution control equipment, thus violating federal clean water law.
AML agreed to pay USD 800,000 in fines and community service payments.
On the other hand, Sassin is facing a six-month jail sentence, as proposed by the prosecutors.
Separately, AML and Sassin are facing charges for giving false pollution records to the U.S. Coast Guard when the vessel docked in Portland, Oregon, the AP cited prosecutors as saying.
World Maritime News Staff