Vessel Owner, Operator Fined $1.75 Million for Oil Dumping

The owner and operator of a newly constructed bulk cargo ship were fined $1.75 million Wednesday for illegally dumping oil bilge water, the Justice Department said.

The Coast Guard at the Port of Baltimore in February found that the chief engineer of the Maltese-flag Aquarosa used a “magic pipe,” a device that bypasses the ship’s oil-water separator, to dump oily bilge water since the ship was delivered in November 2010.

A federal judge fined the Greek operator Efploia Shipping $1.2 million and Danish owner Aquarosa Shipping $550,000 after they pleaded guilty to violating federal pollution laws and falsifying record books.

Contact R.G. Edmonson at bedmonson@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobinWash.