Algoma Central Corp has been fined $500,000 for discharging almost 45,000 litres of oily bilge water from a handysize bulker into Lake Ontario.
The 39,100-dwt Algoma Strongfield (built 2017) was crossing the lake in western New York state on 6 June 2017 when the captain authorised emptying the wash water tank, unaware that it was holding bilge water.
A month earlier, a Redwise Maritime Services crew were delivering the newbuilding to Algoma from China when the oily water separator and oil content monitor malfunctioned several times, causing a build-up of unprocessed oily bilge water.
