Cargo Business Newswire

Thursday, May 1, 2014

German company fined $125M for cracked container ship

The Dauelsberg company was fined more than $1 million because its container ship entered the Port of Long Beach with a cracked hull that could have caused an oil leak.

The 960-foot cargo ship M/V Bellavia crashed into the side of the Panama Canal last autumn, resulting in a hull crack that led to a fuel tank leak.

Officials said the company didn't report the crack when the vessel arrived in Long Beach a few weeks later, nor did it report that the crew had pumped 120,000 gallons of oil-contaminated seawater into the ocean before arriving at the port.

The U.S. attorney's office says German firm pled guilty Thursday to two federal environmental charges ad was fined $1 million and ordered to pay another $250,000 to an environmental fund.

For more of the KSWT 13 story: kswt.com