This advisory to members highlights an example of a case where the ship owner did everything right but still got fined. In a decision handed down on 11 December 2013, the Owners  were fined A$1.2 million in respect of the unintentional discharge of 72,000 litres of heavy fuel oil ("HFO") into the port of Newcastle, Australia. In addition, the Owners had already paid A$1.7 million dollars in clean up costs and were ordered to pay the prosecution's costs of the investigation and court proceedings. The  coal carrier that was purchased by the defendants in December 2006. Despite her age, the vessel was well maintained and had no record of detentions. Prior to the spill, on 23 August 2010 the vessel had ballasted and taken up 376 cubic metres of ballast water into the No. 6 starboard double bottom ballast tank, in accordance with her usual ballasting procedures. The spill occurred during deballasting of the No. 6 starboard double bottom ballast tank during loading operations at Kooragang Berth No. 4 on 25 August 2010. Oil was observed on the surface of the water in the vicinity of the vessel and all operations were ordered to be immediately ceased. Containment and clean-up operations took until 8 October 2010, involving substantial manual clean-up of the shoreline and tidal areas. Total clean-up costs were A$1.9 million, of which Owners agreed to pay A$1.7 million. Subsequent investigations determined that fuel oil had leaked into the ballast tank through a 15mm hole in the internal transverse bulkhead between the ballast and HFO tanks. It was accepted that oil would have leaked into the ballast tank over an extended period of time between the last scheduled inspection on 27 February 2010 and the ballasting and deballasting on 23-25 August 2010. Prior to the ballasting and deballasting, the No. 6 starboard double bottom ballast tank had not been used for at least two months. The prosecutor alleged that the Owners were negligent in not properly sounding and