Companies That Own and Operate Bulk Carrier Guilty, Sentenced For Environmental Crimes

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that two companies that owned and operated the bulk carrier M/V ASL Singapore—ASL Singapore Shipping Limited and Jia Feng Shipping (Fuzhou) Limited — pled guilty on February 20, 2025 to knowingly violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), and obstruction of justice related to the falsification of the vessel’s Oil Record Book, a required log.

The guilty pleas occurred before U.S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey. The companies were sentenced during the same proceeding.  Pursuant to the court approved plea agreement, the companies were fined a total of $1.85 million and are banned from operating in the United States in the future.  Separate charges were filed against Fei Wang, a Chinese national who was the ship’s Chief Engineer.  Wang pled guilty and was sentenced on January 24, 2025.

The criminal case stems from a routine U.S. Coast Guard inspection, which revealed that the crew had been using a portable pump and flexible hose—a so-called magic pipe—to dispose of oily bilge water.  This action constituted a violation of MARPOL, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, coupled with the vessel’s failure to use the appropriate pollution prevention equipment and monitoring.  Crew members presented the vessel’s Oil Record 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 that since at least June 2023, the crew had dumped oily bilge water overboard directly from the bilge holding tank and was non- compliant with international treaties regulating oil pollution from ships.

ASL Singapore Shipping Limited is based in The Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Jia Feng is based in China.  The corporations were each charged with two felonies: an APPS violation and obstruction of justice.

The Coast Guard Investigative Service and the EPA Criminal Investigations Division investigated the case with assistance from U.S. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christine M. Calogero and G. Dall Kammer of the General Crimes Unit  are prosecuting the case.