Discharged oily bilge in Togo, got fined $1.5 million in Texas

U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett has ordered Stavanger, Norway, based Clipper Shipping AS to pay a $1.5 million fine after the company pleaded guity to discharging oily bilge water from the tanker Clipper Saturn, acknowledging that the discharges were omitted from the vessel’s Oil Record Book.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Texas, on Sept. 27 and Oct. 1, 2021, the Clipper Saturn was anchored near Lome, Togo. The chief engineer at the time directed oily bilge water to be transferred into the vessel’s gray water tank and then discharged directly overboard under the cover of darkness. In order to accomplish the discharge, a section of piping had to be removed and a hose installed onto the eductor system. This arrangement was used to discharge the gray water tank directly overboard. Personnel then re-installed and repainted the piping in the area in order to make it appear that none had been removed. Authorities learned about the discharges during an inspection of the vessel in Houston Oct. 28, 2021.

“We take seriously the crimes of illegally discharging oily bilge water at sea and falsifying records to obstruct the United States’ ability to investigate those discharges,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The U.S. Coast Guard must be able to rely on truthful records on board ships, and the Department of Justice will continue to ensure polluters are held fully accountable.”