Drunken Russian Captain Hits Moored Ship in Bremen

A Russian captain with a high blood alcohol level struck a moored ship while attempting to depart the port of Bremen, Germany on Thursday evening, according to the regional water police. No one was injured, but both vessels sustained minor damage.

According to the police, the 55-year-old master grazed the bow of a ship moored at the pier while he was undocking from a berth at Terminal 1. Both vessels sustained minor damage.

When officers from the Bremen Water Police arrived to assess the accident, they immediately noticed the smell of alcohol on the captain. A voluntary breathalyzer test confirmed their suspicions: a blood alcohol level of over 1.6 per mille.

The police banned the captain from continuing his journey, and they ordered a follow-up blood sample to be taken and a $6,000 security deposit withheld.

An investigation into the captain's actions for allegedly endangering shipping traffic is ongoing.

Maritime intelligence site Vesseltracker (a division of Wood Mac) has identified the captain's vessel as the 8,500 coastal freighter Wilson Nanjing. AIS data provided by Pole Staer confirms that the Nanjing briefly departed Weserport Terminal 1 at about 1800 hours GMT on Thursday, then immediately returned to the pier and remained for several days. The ship has since relocated to another nearby pier within the industrial harbor.