Bulker crewman pleads guilty in US court to violation of ship pollution prevention laws
United States Attorney Duane A. Evans has announced that Fei Wang, aged 38, has pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and for obstructing proceedings, and was sentenced during the same proceeding to three months in prison, three years of supervised release, and payment of a US$200 mandatory special assessment fee.
Wang, a Chinese national, was the chief engineer of ASL Singapore, a Chinese-owned bulk carrier registered in Liberia and engaged in trade in the United States. He entered the guilty plea on Friday, January 24, according to the US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Louisiana.
ASL Singapore arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 26, 2024. The US Coast Guard conducted an inspection, which included review of the vessel’s oil record books.
In his plea, Wang acknowledged presenting these books to the coast guard knowing they contained fraudulent entries and omitted information about discharging oily bilge water directly overboard before arriving in the United States.
The falsified logs were intended to conceal the fact that since at least October 2023, when Wang boarded the vessel, the crew had dumped oily bilge water overboard directly from the bilge holding tank and was not complying with international treaties regulating oil pollution from ships.
According to court documents and statements, the crew of ASL Singapore used a portable pump and flexible hose—a so-called “magic pipe”—to dispose of oily bilge water in violation of MARPOL (the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships), and without the use of the appropriate pollution prevention equipment and monitoring. This was done prior to Wang boarding the vessel and continued while he was chief engineer, in charge of all engine room operations.
The vessel's oily water separator was never properly used during Wang's time as chief engineer.
The Coast Guard Investigative Service and the EPA Criminal Investigations Division investigated the case with assistance from US Coast Guard Sector New Orleans. Assistant US Attorneys Christine M. Calogero of the General Crimes Unit, and G. Dall Kammer, Chief of the General Crimes Unit, are prosecuting the case.
