Doorae Shipping Co. on Friday paid nearly $1 million in fines and a “community service payment” for maritime pollution violations. ADVERTISING Doorae Shipping Co. on Friday paid nearly $1 million in fines and a “community service payment” for maritime pollution
Doorae Shipping Co. on Friday paid nearly $1 million in fines and a “community service payment” for maritime pollution violations.
The $200,000 community service payment and $750,000 fine was part of the sentence Doorae received after pleading guilty in April to failing to maintain an accurate oil record book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, and making false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard concerning the discharge of oil contaminated bilge water, according to a statement from Florence T. Nakakuni, United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii.
According to court documents, the operation of a marine vessel, such as the B. Sky, an oiltanker ship flagged out of Vanuatu and operated by Doorae, generates large quantities of waste oil and oil-contaminated wastewater.
International and U.S. law requires that these vessels use pollution prevention equipment to preclude the discharge of these materials. Should any overboard discharges occur, they must be recorded in an oil record book, a log that is inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Information produced to the court established that instead of running bilge water through an oil water separator, the B. Sky discharged over 500 gallons of oily machinery space bilge water directly into the ocean and failed to record the discharge in their oil record book as required by law.
United States District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi approved the payment of the $200,000 community service payment, per an agreement between the government and Doorae, to be donated to the National Fish and Wildlife Service Foundation to fund projects that preserve and enhance coral reefs and reef ecosystems in Hawaii. She also imposed the fine.
“Community service can be a means through which a corporate defendant addresses the results of its criminal activity,” Nakakuni said in the statement. “This payment represents a significant community service contribution as part of the sentence in this case.”
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Vincent Atkins, commander, Fourteenth Coast Guard District, said the Coast Guard annually responds to 210 cases in the Hawaiian Islands.
