Beatriz-S

Germany’s NSC Schifffahrtsgesellschaft has sold four post-panamax bulk carriers to Oldendorff for a combined price of $41.1m, according to brokers. The 93,000-dwt vessels Tango Sea, Tonda Sea, Tana Sea (all built 2011) and Tonic Sea (built 2012) were all reported sold for $9.5m each.

A Polish captain was fined with 25,000 Danish crowns at the court in Hjørring for sailing under the influence of alcohol. The captain was at the helm of the "Tonic Sea" on Sep 29, 2015, when the bulker was leaving Hirtshals. In connection with the navigation he contacted navy staff which suspected that the captain was alcoholized. A patrol from the North Jutland Police boarded a boat of the Hirtshals Rescue Station which sailed out to the ship, and the suspicion of drunken navigation was well founded for the captain had such a high alcohol level that he was arrested and taken ashore. The ship was then stopped and banned from sailing. The shipping company NSC Holding GmbH & Cie. in Hamburg subsequently sent a new crew and captain before the ship could continue to its destination, the container terminal UST-Luga. The captain was not present in court, but had, according to prosecutor Ingrid Munch Hansen, consented that the trial could continue without his presence. One of the witnesses was the officer in charge of Marine Staff who had received the call from the captain. He was convicted on the basis of the witnesses' explanation and an established blood alcohol level of 1.33 per thousand, after which the fine was determined.

The "Tonic Sea" has been released on Sep 30 after a fine was deposited, and she sailed with a new captain on the bridge. The captain was blood tested after a breathalyzer test had showed an alcohol level of 1,34 per thousand when officers of the North Jutland Police boarded the ship on Sep 29 at 1:40 a.m. in Danish territorial waters. They became suspicious when the master asked the Danish maritime authorities for a pilot to help him from Gedser to Skagen - - even though he was the other way round from Skagen and onwards to Ust-Luga where the ship now was being expected on Oct 3 at 1 a.m.