A $800,000 penalty was ordered to the German shipping company AML Ship Management GMBH for thousand of gallons disposal intentionally thrown into the ocean the previous year.
According to prosecutors following the case, the City of Tokyo, operated by AML Ship Management GMBH was on its way from Asia to the West Coast to transport vehicles, when the ship’s crew intentionally discharged over 4,500 gallons of oily bilge waste near the south region of the Aleutian Islands.
The investigators found out that the waste was directly pumped overboard by the ship’s crew using an alternative hose system, which bypassed the oil-water separator legally mandated for all large vessels.
Image source: VesselFinder - Jim Osterlund
The German company was accused for dumping waste into the ocean near Alaska and falsifying ship records violating the regulations for the Clean Water Act and the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. In February, the AML Ship Management GMBH pleaded guilty to all charges.
The AML was placed on three-years probation and was ordered to present a detailed environmental compliance plan.
Within the probation period the AML Ship Management GMBH service will be under increased control. More frequent inspections of the company’s vessels and places of business will be carried out, as a result of reasonable suspicion for not following the maritime law regulations.
The Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward will receive a part of the penalty in amount of $125,000 for seawater cleaning projects developed after the pollution committed by the German shipping company.
According to information released after the court case, the ship’s Chief Engineer was sentenced as well by the Federal Court in Oregon, with a charge for water pollution and violating the maritime law. He will be in five years probation period after five months house arrest.