Drunk master ran cement tanker aground off Denmark
On July 29, 2014, at 10.14 p.m. the "Cemfjord" ran aground at Læsø Rende in the Kattegat en route from Aalborg to Goole, with a cargo of 2100 tons of cement on board.
Only at 1.47 a.m. on July 30 the crew contacted the authorities and asked for assistance, possibly because the captain appeared to be drunk when the Frederikshavn police came on board.
A breathalyzer test of the 57 year old Russian captain shows that he had a blood alcohol of over 1.0. He was fined 10000 Danish Crowns ($1,800) and was to be replaced with another captain.
He had been alone at the helm and was inattentive because he was working with a computer.
A tug was called to refloat the cement tanker and pulled it off in the evening of July 30.
The Søværnets Operative Kommando sent an anti pollution vessel, but there were no signs of pollution.
On July 31 divers inspected the hull of the ship in Frederikshavn before it could continue its voyage after the owner company Brise Bereederungs Gmbh & Co KG in Hamburg called a new captain.
The cement carrier Cemfjord (IMO: 8403569) has overall length of 84.00 m, moulded beam of 12.00 m and maximum summer draft of 4.50 m. The deadweight of the ship is 2,327 DWT and the gross tonnage is 1,850 GRT. The ship was built in 1984 by Detlef Hegemann Rolandwerft in their shipyard in Berne, Germany. The cement carrier Cemfjord is owned and operated by the German company Brise Bereederung.
On July 29, 2014, at 10.14 p.m. the "Cemfjord" ran aground at Læsø Rende in the Kattegat en route from Aalborg to Goole, with a cargo of 2100 tons of cement on board.
Only at 1.47 a.m. on July 30 the crew contacted the authorities and asked for assistance, possibly because the captain appeared to be drunk when the Frederikshavn police came on board.
A breathalyzer test of the 57 year old Russian captain shows that he had a blood alcohol of over 1.0. He was fined 10000 Danish Crowns ($1,800) and was to be replaced with another captain.
He had been alone at the helm and was inattentive because he was working with a computer.
A tug was called to refloat the cement tanker and pulled it off in the evening of July 30.
The Søværnets Operative Kommando sent an anti pollution vessel, but there were no signs of pollution.
On July 31 divers inspected the hull of the ship in Frederikshavn before it could continue its voyage after the owner company Brise Bereederungs Gmbh & Co KG in Hamburg called a new captain.
The cement carrier Cemfjord (IMO: 8403569) has overall length of 84.00 m, moulded beam of 12.00 m and maximum summer draft of 4.50 m. The deadweight of the ship is 2,327 DWT and the gross tonnage is 1,850 GRT. The ship was built in 1984 by Detlef Hegemann Rolandwerft in their shipyard in Berne, Germany. The cement carrier Cemfjord is owned and operated by the German company Brise Bereederung.
