Container ship company to pay $2.2M for discharge

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pacific International Lines, a Singapore-based container ship company, is being ordered to pay $2.2 million in criminal penalties for concealing illegal waste water discharges in a falsified oil record book.

The company pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to making false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard and violating a law designed to prevent pollution from ships. Pacific International operated the vessel Southern Lily 2 in American Samoa. The oil pollution was discovered in a routine inspection by the Coast Guard, which found that the ship's oil water separator was not functioning.

This is the second recent case involving dumping in waters off American Samoa. Last month, a New Zealand fishing company was ordered to pay $2.4 million and sentenced to three years of probation for dumping oil waste.