APL Limited will pay $9.8 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act in connection with a contract to provide GPS tracking of shipping containers in Afghanistan.

APL, an ocean carrier based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a wholly-owned American subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines Limited.

The Department of Defense contract required APL to affix a satellite tracking device to each shipping container transported from Karachi, Pakistan to U.S. military bases in Afghanistan when the Department of Defense requested the tracking services.

Federal officials alleged that APL billed the the Department of Defense for tracking services despite knowing that the tracking devices completely or partially failed to transmit data, or were not affixed to shipping containers.

The government also claims that APL attached a single satellite tracking device to two shipping containers despite being required to affix one device to every container.