The US Department of Justice has thrown the book at two shipping companies for failing to adhere to the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and obstruction of justice for attempting to conceal the illegal dumping of oily bilge water and other waste into the sea by a vessel.

Egyptian Tanker Company and Singapore-based Thome Ship Management both pleaded guilty to the charges and were ordered to pay a $1.9m penalty. They were also ordered to carry out marine and coastal restoration projects at three National Wildlife Refuges in the Gulf of Mexico near East Texas, which was the area the vessel had sailed through and called at ports.

ETC is the owner of the 2001-built, 107,200 dwt ETC Mena oil tanker, while Thome is the operator.

US authorities started investigations into the matter after receiving a tip-off from a crew member on April 26, 2016 that the vessel had illegally discharged bilge water into the sea. The individual, subsequently, submitted a written statement, images and video of the act.

Upon an inspection by the US Coast Guard, a pump covered in oil was discovered in the vessel’s main bilge tank, which resembled the pump the crew member said was used to discharge the bilge water.

The companies admitted that the crew had circumvented the oily water separator and directly pumped the oil-contaminated bilge water into the sea, while further investigations uncovered evidence that crew members were ordered to also dump plastic bags filled with waste such as metal and incinerator ash into the sea in March 2016.

These acts were deliberately omitted from the vessel’s oil record book and garbage record book, which were presented to the authorities, thus leading to the obstruction of justice charge levelled again the companies.

“This case involved egregious violations of US and international laws that are key to protecting the oceans from pollution, and deliberate efforts to mislead US Coast Guard officials about these criminal acts,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Wood.

“The Department of Justice will continue to aggressively prosecute criminal acts that pollute the oceans.”

Both companies will also be placed on probation for four years, during which they will have to abide by a comprehensive environmental compliance plan.

One aspect of the plan requires all vessels operated by Thome that sail to the US to fully abide by all the relevant marine environmental protection regulations laid down by national and international laws.