Nicolas Sassin News

AML Ship Management GMBH, a German company, was sentenced in federal court today to pay a total of $800,000 in fines and community service payments for violating the Clean Water Act and the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by intentionally discharging 4,500 gallons of oily bilge water into the ocean off the coast of Alaska and then presenting false records to the U.S. Coast Guard. AML was also ordered to implement a comprehensive Environmental Compliance Plan and was placed on probation for three years. During the term of probation, AML will be subject to a heightened level of scrutiny, including warrantless searches of its vessels and places of business based upon a reasonable suspicion that it is violating the law.

U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced  that AML Ship Management GMBH, a German company, and Nicolas Sassin, Chief Engineer of a vehicle carrier ship it operated, the M/V City of Tokyo, were both charged with knowingly dumping oil into United States’ waters off the coast of Alaska in August 2014 in violation of the Clean Water Act. AML and Chief Engineer Nicolas Sassin have also been charged in separate cases filed in the District of Oregon with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) for knowingly creating and presenting false records to the U.S. Coast Guard when it arrived in port in Portland, Oregon in September 2014. The Clean Water Act charges in Alaska and the APPS charges in Oregon are felony offenses.

German shipping company AML Ship Management GMBH and one of its chief engineers pled guilty yesterday to illegally discharging oily waste in Alaskan waters last August. The company and Nicolas Sassin, 45, the chief engineer of AML's City of Tokyo vehicle carrier, each plead guilty to one count of violating the Clean Water Act. They also face charges in Portland, OR, for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. The dumping of 4,500 gallons of oil bilge water occurred 165 miles south of the Aleutian islands.