Egyptian Tanker Company and Thome fined for pollution in US Gulf

A pair of international shipping companies pleaded guilty in a Beaumont, Texas court on Tuesday, to pollution and corruption charges in US waters by a vessel of theirs.

They will be fined $1.9m and must pay for restoration efforts at three wildlife refuges on the Gulf of Mexico coast.

Egyptian Tanker Company and Singapore-based Thome Ship Management are the owner and operator of the 2001-built ETC Mena, an oil tanker that was accused of dumping oil-contaminated bilge water into the ocean in 2016 off Port Arthur, Texas.

The companies’ guilty plea acknowledged violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and also obstruction of justice for trying to cover it up by not entering the discharge of bilge water in the ship’s oil record book.

The companies will be given four years of probation that includes a comprehensive environmental compliance plan.