Containership Captain Faces $10,000 Warrant After Skipping Court Appearance

The captain of the containership MSC Jubilee IX is now facing a $10,000 arrest warrant after he failed to appear for a pre-trial hearing in Washington State. The King County District Court issued the warrant on August 27 when both the captain and his lawyer did not attend.

The case involves Captain Oleh Danylin, a 48-year-old Ukrainian national, who was arrested on August 20 in Seattle on suspicion of operating his vessel while intoxicated. He was formally charged on August 25 after a Puget Sound Pilot reported that he showed signs of intoxication while the vessel was being moved from Everett anchorage to Terminal 5 in Seattle.

Court records show that the ship’s first officer took over command along with the pilot, and together they navigated the containership to port without incident. The vessel was later detained until its operator, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), appointed a replacement captain.

U.S. Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound was alerted by the pilot, and a boarding team, along with agents from the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), carried out a field sobriety test. According to court papers, the captain performed so poorly on the test that investigators stopped it for his safety.

He then took a chemical breath test, which showed a blood alcohol content of 0.24 percent. Two additional tests conducted the same afternoon by the Washington State Patrol registered 0.25 percent, more than six times the legal limit for commercial mariners.

When questioned, Danylin told investigators that he had not consumed alcohol in two months and said that the smell detected by the pilot was from mouthwash he had used 10 minutes earlier. Despite this explanation, the Coast Guard imposed a $1,000 civil penalty.

The captain appeared in court on August 25, pleaded not guilty, and requested an interpreter. The judge ordered him to remain in Washington State, prohibited him from consuming alcohol, and directed that his passport remain in U.S. Coast Guard custody.

However, when Danylin did not return for his scheduled pre-trial hearing on August 27, the court issued the $10,000 warrant for his arrest.

The MSC Jubilee IX is a 108,770-deadweight-ton vessel with capacity for 8,800 TEU containers. It is more than 1,000 feet long, 134 feet wide, and operates under the Liberian flag. After the incident, the vessel left Seattle on August 22 and was reported near Prince Rupert, Canada, later that week, according to MarineTraffic data.

Reference: newsweek

Source: Maritime Shipping News