A serious incident in the port of Seattle brings attention back to maritime safety and alcohol consumption on board.
The U.S. Coast Guard arrested the commander of the ship Msc Jubilee IX, a container ship of 108,770 gross tons and with a capacity of 8,800 TEU. The ship had arrived at anchorage near Everett, Washington, from Busan, South Korea, with a stop in Vancouver, Canada. Built in 2008, the ship, registered in Liberia, is reported to have joined the Msc fleet in March 2025.
The detention occurred following an inspection initiated after the ship’s arrival in port. The report to the Coast Guard came from the Puget Sound pilot (the system of inlets that also includes the port of Seattle), who on August 20, after boarding to guide the vessel to Terminal 5 of the American port city, had noticed clear signs of intoxication in the commander and alerted the port authorities. Despite the situation, the ship was maneuvered by the pilot and the first officer during the transit from the anchorage to Terminal 5 of the port of Seattle safely.
The Coast Guard’s inspection and investigation team boarded to conduct a routine inspection. During the check, the captain was administered a sobriety test and a breathalyzer, the result of which was unequivocal: the commander’s blood alcohol level was six times the legal limit for commercial maritime transits.
Immediately arrested, the captain was transferred to the King County Jail detention center, awaiting formal charges from the prosecutor, while the ship remained detained until the appointment of a replacement captain. Only after receiving authorization to resume operations, on August 22, was the Msc Jubilee IX able to depart from Seattle bound for Prince Rupert and, subsequently, to Yantian in China.
A similar case to this occurred in early 2024 in Felixstowe, where another captain of an Msc ship was arrested for a similar offense.
