Unix Line pleads guilty to ship pollution charges
Singapore-based Unix Line, the primary shi management arm of MOL Chemical Tankers, has pleaded guilty in a federal court in the US to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.
Unix Line admitted that its crewmembers onboard the 26,200 dwt tanker Zao Galaxy knowingly failed to record in the vessel’s oil record book the overboard discharge of oily bilge water without the use of required pollution-prevention equipment during the vessel’s voyage from the Philippines to Richmond, California.
In February 2019, examiners from US Coast Guard discovered that during the voyage, a Unix Line-affiliated ship officer directed crew members to discharge oily bilge water overboard using a configuration of drums, flexible pipes, and flanges to bypass the vessel’s oil water separator.
Unix Line’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 20.