According to Advisory by the Skuld P&I Club owner fined A$1.2 million
The Skuld P&I Club has issued an advisory to highlight an example of a case where the ship owner did everything right but still got fined.
In a decision handed down on 11 December 2013, ship owners were fined A$1.2 million in respect of the unintentional discharge of 72,000 litres of heavy fuel oil (“HFO”) into the port of Newcastle, Australia. In addition, the owners had already paid A$1.7 million dollars in clean up costs and were ordered to pay the prosecution’s costs of the investigation and court proceedings.
The vessel was well maintained and had no record of detentions. Prior to the spill, on 23 August 2010 the vessel had ballasted and taken up 376 cubic metres of ballast water into the No. 6 starboard double bottom ballast tank, in accordance with her usual ballasting procedures.
Subsequent investigations determined that fuel oil had leaked into the ballast tank through a 15mm hole in the internal transverse bulkhead between the ballast and HFO tanks.
Read further details of the case and court’s decision at the Skuld P&I Club