Hong Kong based shipowners of »Cosco Busan«, Fleet Management, have been sentenced[ds_preview] to a US$ 10 mill. fine after having been pleaded guilty last year to criminally violating federal pollution laws and felony obstruction of justice. The company admitted that it caused the spill and acted negligently after the »Cosco Busan«, which it owned, struck the Bay Bridge on a foggy morning on November 7, 2007, leading to the biggest Bay Area spill in 20 years. Furthermore the company was convicted of creating false and forged documents at the direction of shore-based supervisors with the intent to deceive the US Cost Guard. US$ 2 mill. of the fine will be used for marine environmental projects in the San Francisco Bay.
