Oil tanker and bulk shipping company Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. will pay a record fine of US$37 million after pleading guilty to charges of illegally dumping waste oil and falsifying pollution logs in six U.S. ports, federal officials announced. The company agreed to plead guilty to 33 felony counts, stemming from dumping violations from nine ships and for log violations for three other ships in Boston; Portland, Maine; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Wilmington, N.C.; and Beaumont, Texas, federal officials said.
The penalty includes a $27.8 million criminal fine, which will be divided among the districts and a $9.2 million community service payment to fund various marine environmental projects.
The criminal penalty is the largest-ever involving deliberate vessel pollution, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Shares of New York-based Overseas Shipholding closed unchanged at $59.05 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The investigation showed 150,000 gallons of oil-contaminated waste was dumped in the waters between Maine and Massachusetts.
Overseas Shipholding, one of the largest publicly traded tanker firms in the world, “has engaged in repeated and deliberate pollution of our oceans,” acting associated attorney General William Mercer commented. “This penalty will serve as a deterrent for all other companies who attempt to circumvent the law for their own financial gain at the expense of the environment.”
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