The Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has received a fine of NIS
1.01 million – the largest fine ever charged to a ship on Israeli waters – after
a detrimental oil spill hit the Haifa seaport area in December, the
Environmental Protection Ministry told
The Jerusalem Post on
Sunday.
Haifa Magistrate Court Justice Daniel Fish imposed the penalty on
the company on October 10, convicting it of spilling oil into the sea and
disturbing the public domain under severe circumstances, the ministry said in a
Sunday statement. The ship, called MSC PERLE, was docked in the Haifa port
making preparations to empty its ballast water (water in the hull that maintains
ship stability) when tens of tons of heavy fuel oil spilled out into the sea,
creating environmental and property damage still visible for weeks following the
incident, according to the statement.
Immediately after, the Environment
Ministry filed an indictment against the company, as well as the ship captain
and chief engineer.
“To be precise, this is the highest fine that a ship
ever received in Israeli waters. This is the biggest one,” Rani Amir, head of
the ministry’s marine and coastal division, told the Post of the December 19
incident.
The closest fine to the NIS 1.01 million sum was NIS 650,00,
which was charged to Florealis Shipping after a vessel spilled around 15 tons of
oil in the Eilat bay in September 2000, according to Amir.
While the
exact amount of oil spilled this December is difficult to calculate, based on
the mass balance left inside the ship, Amir said the ministry estimated that
about 30-40 tons were lost this time. Such cases are very complicated to clean
up and can often take many months or years to eliminate the polluting substance
from the water, he added.
“In this case, we are done,” Amir
said.
Although the fine withstood in the judge’s ruling, the indictments
against the two specific individuals were dropped in a plea bargain, with the
understanding that they will be required to answer for their conduct in the
framework of internal company proceedings, according to the ministry. Amir said
he expected that MSC would be fully cooperative with the ruling.
A
representative from the Haifa branch of MSC told the
Post that his office could
not comment on the issue, as the fine was levied against the international
umbrella organization in Geneva. While the
Post attempted to contact the
appropriate source there, the Swiss headquarters were closed for business on
Sunday.