Solvang-controlled Clipper Shipping is facing felony charges in the US for discharging bilge water off Togo.
Federal prosecutors have alleged that the chief engineer of the 60,000-cbm Clipper Saturn (built 2015) falsified the LPG carrier’s oil record book, obscuring an illegal discharge of machinery space bilge water in late September 2021.
Only Clipper, a Solvang shipowning subsidiary, was listed on the docket as a defendant.
“[Clipper Shipping] through the actions of its employees and agents, did knowingly fail to accurately maintain an [Oil Record Book] for the M/T Clipper Saturn in which quantities of machinery space bilge water, and the discharge and disposal of machinery space bilge water, were fully and accurately recorded, as required,” prosecutors said in papers filed on Thursday in the US federal court for the Southern District of Texas.
The US alleged that the discharge took place while the Clipper Saturn was at anchorage offshore Lome between 27 September and 1 October.
Prosecutors said the supposedly fraudulent oil record book was examined by US Coast Guard inspectors on 28 October while it was in the Port of Houston.
Neither Solvang nor attorneys for Clipper responded to a request for comment.
The US is one of few jurisdictions worldwide that will prosecute companies and seafarers over dumping wastewater in violation of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, also known as Marpol.
The rules prohibit ships from dumping water with oil contents exceeding 15 parts per million.
Authorities file charges based on allegedly false oil record books examined during port state inspections in the US.
The prosecutions can be controversial, with the US Coast Guard offering potentially lucrative whistleblower awards that can incentivise false accusations and seafarers being held in US custody for months or even years before seeing a judge.
