A Louisiana court has fined a tanker company USD2 million and sentenced it to four years’ probation after it was convicted of illegally discharging oil from one of its tankers and then attempting to cover this up.
Senior officers on board the Ridgebury Alexandra Z, owned by Interorient Marine Services Ltd, were found to have discharged oily waste into the Gulf of Mexico by flushing the vessel’s pollution prevention equipment sensor with fresh water, disguising the level of effluent being discharged. False entries were then made in the oil record book to conceal the illegal dumping.
The vessel’s captain has also been charged with circumventing the pollution prevention equipment, falsifying records, obstructing justice, making false statements, and conspiring to falsify the records and to obstruct the US coastguard. His case is due to come to court.
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