The captain of a Panamanian-registered ship was yesterday fined Lm4,000 when he admitted to breaching maritime regulations, due to his misunderstanding of an English navigation chart which led to him ordering his ship through the South Comino Channel.

43-year-old Palestinian Arif Jamaid, captain of MV Lion Princess, filed a guilty

plea to breaching the Maritime Authority Act on Wednesday when he steered the 146 metre-long vessel through the channel that only allows non-commercial or less than 50 metre in length vessels to pass through.

The unrepresented Mr Jamaid pleaded guilty to the charges but pointed out that he had only passed through the channel due to a misunderstanding.

He explained how as he was sailing towards Malta from the East he was informed that he could be allowed into Anchor Bay for bunkering within three hours. So, in order to make it to Anchor Bay on time, he decided to pass through the channel. When he consulted his chart,

he saw that the channel was “restricted to non-commercial traffic or vessels 50 metres or less” but he misunderstood the words “restricted to” to be “restricted for” and sailed through.

Magistrate Giovanni Grixti noted that Mr Jamaid was facing a maximum jail term of a year and a maximum fine of Lm5,000. After giving Mr Jamaid time to reconsider his guilty plea, the magistrate ruled that “his actions could have resulted in a stoppage to the Maltese economy had something happened” and the punishment ought to reflect this.

He therefore fined him Lm4,000.

Police inspector Pierre Micallef Grimaud prosecuted.