Germany: 'Drunk' Rhine ship pilot causes major gate damage

Germany maritime police on Friday said the helmswoman of a ship that rammed and destroyed a lock on the Rhine River near the western German town of Iffezheim last Saturday was intoxicated. 

She is being investigated for endangering shipping, police said. Iffezheim is a town near Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg.

The woman was not the captain of the freighter, but was at the helm as co-pilot at the time of the accident, a police spokesman said.

"The situation would probably have been different after just one glass of beer. She was already properly intoxicated," the spokesman said, without specifying the woman's blood alcohol level. 

How did the accident happen?

The freighter was traveling from Basel to Karlsruhe on Saturday afternoon when it ran head-on into a closed lock gate on the Rhine. The route was dead straight, the spokesman said.

Due to the force of the impact, the ship's bow broke through the lock gate and got stuck. Water police estimate the damage at about 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million).

But the ship itself was virtually undamaged, the spokesman said. Another vessel was also in the lock at the time, but no one was injured. Both ships were able to continue their journey.

Lock gate needs to be replaced

As a result of the accident, the Rhine can only be navigated through one of the two lock chambers, which can lead to waiting times for shipping traffic.

Repairs could take up to a year, as the new lock gate has to be specially constructed. "Nobody has anything like this in stock," the police said.

A cargo ship ramming a lock without braking is also unusual for the waterway police. "None of our colleagues knew of such a case," the spokesman said.

dh/wmr (dpa, AFP)