MSC Rossella - just passing through

 The container ship MSC Rossella arrived at the pilot station at 2359 hrs, June 26 and proceeded in to number one anchorage.

Halifax is not on the ship's normal route, so it did not tie up at any terminal. It has a pilot ordered for 1100 hrs June 27. I assume the ship called in Halifax only for Canadian Food Inspection Agency clearance. 

I believe the ship is new to MSC's Canada Shuttle route to Malaga, Spain and Sines, Portugal from Montreal. The ship was in Asia in the last few months, having undergone a class inspection in Shanghai in February, so would be a canadidate for LDA moth invasive species inspection. Its most recent ports were Sines June 11-12, Thames June 15-16 and Antwerp June 16-19.

MSC Rossella was launched as Hansa Europe in 1993 by Samsung, Koje, but delivered as Ville de Carina. It received its current name in 1997. The 27,398 gt, 43,605 dwt ship has a capacity of 3398 TEU. 

MSC has long been noted for operating elderly ships, and this would seem to qualify, but the "goal posts" keep moving as the demand for hulls is so high. A well found ship capable of 22.5 kts, but with modest capacity is well suited to St.Lawrence service, especially with a tight two week schedule even if it is nearly thirty years old. 

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