Australian Oil Spill: Ship Owners Fined

A judge fined owners of a cargo ship USD1.2 million on Friday over a major oil spill that stained 56 kilometres of Australia's east coast including popular surf beaches. Queensland state Supreme Court Justice Kiernan Dorney also ordered the owners Swire Navigation Co. Ltd. and Bluewind Shipping Ltd. to publish an apology in Brisbane's leading newspaper. The companies had pleaded guilty to causing the March 2009 spill.

The companies, which each own a 50 percent stake in the ship MV Pacific Adventurer, have already paid USD25 million toward the AUD31 million cost of cleaning up the spill from the state capital Brisbane north to the white sands of the Sunshine Coast tourist strip and two tourist islands.

 

Containers tumbled overboard during a storm, piercing the hull of the Hong Kong-registered ship, which spilled 71,300 gallons (270,000 litres) of oil. The owners' lawyer Tony Glynn had requested the fine of AUD600,000 for each company, describing that as an appropriate penalty. Prosecutors had sought a total fine of AUD3.5 million.

 

Charges were dropped this week against the ship's Philippines-based captain Bernardino Gonzales Santos, its charterer Swire Shipping Ltd., and manager China Navigation Co. Ltd.