A SINGAPORE-based company located in Altona has been ordered to pay $200,000 for permitting an environmental hazard following an oil spill in 2009.
The company, Teekay Navion Offshore Loading Pte Ltd, pleaded guilty to permitting the hazard in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last week.
The court heard that while discharging crude oil into Mobil’s Gellibrand Terminal in the Port of Melbourne an incident occurred in high winds causing oil to discharge freely onto Gellibrand Pier.
During the subsequent clean-up operation approximately 180 kilograms of liquid crude oil was recovered from the water around the pier and more than 3000 kilograms of oil-contaminated soil was recovered from St Kilda beach.
The oil spill had the potential to threaten the St Kilda penguin colony and had an immediate and considerable environmental impact on the waters near the pier and on the beaches at St Kilda and Middle Park.
The spilt crude oil caused a costly and difficult clean-up operation with discharged oil continuing to come ashore at St Kilda beach for a six day period.
During the case brought by EPA Victoria the Court was told the MT Leyte Spirit, owned and operated by the company, was not following procedure while at dock, failing to have appropriate weather forecasting systems in place and ensuring the vessel remained securely birthed alongside the pier.
EPA’s CEO John Merritt said regulation on systems and operating procedures while at dock are there to safeguard the environment and should be followed to the letter.
“Masters and owners should take their responsibilities seriously,” Mr Merritt said.
“If it was not for the quick action of the ship’s master, who averted a large scale discharge of oil by prompt and decisive action, Port Phillip Bay would have been facing a serious environmental catastrophe with a devastating impact on the marine environment.”
Without conviction, the company was ordered to pay $100,000 to Port Phillip EcoCentre Incorporated who will implement a project to increase community awareness of catchment pollution.
The court ordered the company also pay EPA court costs of $100,000.
