Doorae Shipping to pay $950,000 in pollution case

APRIL 6, 2016 — South Korea’s Doorae Shipping was sentenced yesterday to pay a fine of $750,000 and a community service payment of $200,000 after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Hawaii to failing to accurately maintain an accurate oil record book, a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, and for making false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard in a case relating to bilge water discharges from its Vanuatu-flagged tanker, B. Sky.

The company was also sentenced to two years probation and will be required to take part in a court monitored environmental compliance program.

The court also accepted a guilty plea in relation to the oil record book from the chief engineer, Jeung Mun, who will be sentenced July 27.

Hawaii News Now reports Ken Sorenson, Assistant U.S. Attorney, as saying Mun circumvented the reporting requirement by building a bypass system that pumped oily fluid directly into the ocean. In his plea deal, Mun admitted that the bypass system discharged about 500 gallons, but prosecutors said the bypass system operated for several days.