Greece Arrests Master for “Drunkenness on Duty” and Causing Shipwreck

 

What would otherwise have been a minor ship casualty is now drawing attention after the Hellenic Coast Guard reported today that it has arrested the master of the vessel involved in the incident. The 46-year-old master of a Bahamas-registered cargo ship is being charged with “disturbance of security,” and “causing a shipwreck” in conjunction with “drunkenness on duty.”

The small unnamed cargo ship reported on Monday, November 11, that it had run aground on a rocky point on the southeast side of the island of Makronissos. It is a small island less than two miles long and just a third of a mile wide lying off the mainland and across from Kea southeast of Piraeus in the Aegean Sea. A busy shipping channel passes between the two islands.

The ship had loaded in Turkey and was reported to be carrying 4,100 metric tons of melamine pallets bound for Piraeus. It had a crew of nine aboard all from Ukraine including the master.

The vessel was refloated with the assistance of a tug and moved to the Piraeus anchorage. An initial survey reported a crack above the waterline with no water ingress, but the Greek authorities issued a detention order until the vessel was repaired and certified by class.

The Second Port Department of Keratsini of the Central Port Authority of Piraeus, however, also began investigating the incident that led to the charges that were filed today against the master. They did not report the level of inebriation or further details of the incident.

It is the latest in the series of reports of incidents involving apparent consumption of alcohol either just before or while on duty. In January, a pilot in the UK reported that he had smelled alcohol when interacting with the captain of an MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company containership arriving at the port of Felixstowe which led to a guilty plea and the captain losing his position while in 2023 the UK MAIB issued a report saying a watch officer was likely asleep on the bridge after consuming alcohol. Denmark in 2021 convicted an officer who had consumed alcohol prior to his watch and was then involved in a fatal collision.