German shipowner MST Mineralien Schiffahrt Spedition und Transport GmbH (MST) has been fined $3.2m for polluting US waters.
On Friday, the shipowner pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Portland, Maine, for obstruction of justice and for maintaining false official records to conceal deliberate pollution from one of its ships.
According to documents filed in court, MST discharged oily bilge waste from the 27,700-dwt Marguerita (built 2016) through a so-called “magic pipe” bypasses required pollution prevention equipment.
The US Justice Department said the intentional discharges of oily bilge waste occurred over a nine-month period during which the ship regularly made port calls in Portland, Maine.
In addition to a fine MST must now serve a four-year term of probation during which vessels operated by the company will be required to implement an environmental compliance plan, including inspections by an independent auditor.
MST was convicted of similar environmental crimes in the District of Minnesota in 2016 involving the 24,500-dwt Cornelia (built 2015).
That federal case involved the falsification of the oil record book for the vessel, which concealed deliberate discharges of oil-contaminated bilge waste, including discharges into the Great Lakes.
The Bavaria-based shipowner was on probation in the District of Minnesota when it committed the crimes charged in Maine.
