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Ship and captain released

The Norwegian captain of the "Ranafjord" who was arrested Sep 29 afternoon after he had consumed large quantities of alcohol and then lay down to sleep on his guard, was released from arrest the same evening by the North Jutland Police. The Norwegian captain can decide whether his trial for drunken navigation is held in Denmark or Norway. He will probably chose be prosecuted in Denmark. According to the Navy Operational Command the "Ranafjord" was only 10 minutes from running aground at high speed when the ship was stopped. The Navy patrol boat "Nymfen" had succeeded to get into contact with the crew. The ship had 40-50 cubic meters of bunker fuel on board, which could have triggered a heavy pollution in a grounding. In the afternoon of Sep 30 the "Ranafjord" was allowed to sail again, now with a more sober captain on board.

Drunk captain fell asleep - ship in danger of running aground

The 54-year-old Norwegian captain of the "Ranafjord" on Sep 29, 2011, was so drunk that on guard he left the bridge to lie down to sleep. The Danish Navy Operational Command observed that the ship which was coming from Riga held the same course for six hours, and therefore attempted to make contact with the crew. After several attempts failed, they chose to finally send an F16 fighter to fly over the ship at low altitude to get in contact with the crew. The ship was 40 minutes from running aground at Hals then. The F16 plane was finally able to catch the attention of crew members, and they were able to stop the ship in time and dropped anchor. At 1.45 p.m. the police in Northern Jutland received notification from the Søværnets Operative Command (SOK) about the ship in the Kattegat. When the Danish police arrived with a patrol boat, they found a clearly drunk captain who initially tried to blame his equally drunk first mate. But the logbook showed that the officer had resigned his guard, and the captain had taken over control of the ship. The captain was arrested and taken ashore after a breath test on board had revealed that he had a BAC of 2.15 per thousand. A Danish pilot subsequently guided the ship to Hals Barre, where it anchored while the drunken mate slept. Only after the officer was sober again, the ship was allowed to continue its voyage to Aalborg. The Norwegian captain has been arrested by the Danish police after the arrival in the port of Aalborg on Sep 30 and charged with having driven the freighter Ranafjord heavily intoxicated. He had to submit a blood sample The owner, the Finn Olsen Rederi in Bodø, informed that the company has a 0-alcohol policy on board its ships, and was shocked that several crew members apparently have consumed large amounts of alcohol on board. The captain has only worked for the company for a short time.