The captain of a container ship has pleaded guilty to operating his vessel while under the influence of alcohol at the Port of Felixstowe.
Zbigniew Chowaniec, a 65-year-old Polish national, was apprehended on January 15th upon the arrival of his ship at the Suffolk port. Ipswich Magistrates' Court was informed that a breathalyser test revealed he was nearly four times above the legal alcohol limit.
Chowaniec, who served as the master of the MSC Roshney V, a vessel that had traveled from the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Belgium, en route to the port of Canakkale, Turkey, entered his guilty plea on January 16th. The case has now been referred to the Crown Court for sentencing, scheduled for February.
Port officers boarded the 965ft (294m) long ship around 07:15 GMT, detecting a strong odor of alcohol emanating from Mr. Chowaniec. Subsequently, he was arrested and transported to Martlesham Police Investigation Centre. The breathalyser test conducted at the center recorded a reading of 93 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath, well surpassing the prescribed legal limit.
The legal alcohol limit for seafarers, as established by the Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping Convention, is 25 micrograms in 100ml of breath. Following the court hearing on January 16th, Mr. Chowaniec was granted conditional bail and required to surrender his passport. Photo by John Fielding, Wikimedia commons.