Shipping company pleads guilty to oil pollution

The violations happened aboard the M/V City of Tokyo in 2014. (Courtesy: U.S. Attorney's Office)
The violations happened aboard the M/V City of Tokyo in 2014. (Courtesy: U.S. Attorney’s Office)

A shipping company has pleaded guilty to illegally dumping oily bilge water in the eastern Aleutians last summer.

AML Ship Management of Germany agreed to pay $800,000 in fines for Clean Water Act violations that happened on a vehicle carrier in August 2014.

AML has admitted that the chief engineer of the M/V City of Tokyo used a pump hooked up to the bilge tank to discharge the water straight overboard, without filtering it through pollution equipment first. The vessel was 165 miles south of Sanak Island at the time.

Federal authorities say the vessel’s crew saw an oily sheen around their stern after the discharge. The pump was allegedly dismantled before the ship reached its destination of Portland, Oregon.

The ship’s engineer, Nicolas Sassin, has pleaded guilty to separate charges for the same incident in Alaska and Oregon. He could spend up to six months in jail.

He and AML are also charged with failing to report the oily discharge and giving the Coast Guard false oil records.

AML will face three years of probation as part of the plea agreement. And they’ll have to implement a new environmental compliance plan.

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