ASBACH

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Drunk master allided with pier and grounded his ship

On June 18, 2015, the "Asbach" allided with a floating pier on the Rhine in Boppard which was severely damaged. The ship had trieb to berth enroute from Rüdesheim to Koblenz. During the first attempt the master failed to berth. Then he smashed into the pier with the bow. The pier was torn off its anchorage. The "Asbach" then headed downstream, but then went full astern to prevent the allision with another passenger ship which was berthed at the shore. During this manoever the stern of the "Asbach" hit the bottom. Then the master tried to berth the ship. The 100 passengers who were not injured disembarked. Then the "Asbach" moved on to Koblenz where the master was drug tested and found to be intoxicated with 1,1 per thousand. The "Asbach" suffered dents and breaches, but was able to sail again on June 19 with another master. The damage caused was around 40000 Euro. The damaged pier had only been taken into service again on Jund 17 after having been damaged by a cargo ship one year ago. German reports with photos: http://www.polizei.rlp.de/internet/nav/399/presse.jsp?uMen=39970d73-c9a2-b001-be59-2680a525fe06&_ic_uCon=c3c400c5-543c-fd41-c5ec-3f1f282c266d&page=1&pagesize=10 http://www.swr.de/landesschau-aktuell/rp/koblenz/betrunkener-schiffskapitaen-rammt-steiger-und-ufermauer/-/id=1642/did=15698650/nid=1642/1ghhefm/