PORTLAND (AP) — Federal prosecutors say the captain of a 736-foot-long freighter was intoxicated as his ship was trying to cross the hazardous Columbia River bar near Astoria, Ore. U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall says Georgios Choulis had a blood-alcohol level of .287. Federal law prohibits operation of commercial vessels with a blood-alcohol content over .04.
The Coast Guard removed him from the Malta-flagged ship Laconia on Tuesday. A river bar pilot and a Coast Guard team had boarded the vessel to assist in its transit from the Pacific Ocean into the Columbia. The Coast Guard reported that Choulis was found sleeping with a nearly empty bottle of Scotch whisky beside him.
He pleaded guilty Friday to operating a commercial vessel under the influence of alcohol. U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez in Portland sentenced him to a year’s probation, a $500 fine and barred him from U.S. waters for a year. The Oregonian reports he was expected to fly back to his native Greece.
The Coast Guard has released the freighter to pick up a load of grain at Longview.
