One of the most frequent of MSC ships to call in Halifax over the past couple of years has been MSC Sandra. I first noted its arrival on September 19, 2021 on the Canada Express 2 service from Spain to the St.Lawrence River. (I had seen it previously in 2018, if not before, on the St.Lawrence.) On those visits it was to lighten off cargo to meet St.Lawrence River draft restrictions.
MSC Sandra at St.Lawrence draft and at speed: 2018-08-17.
Its recent calls in Halifax have been on the Turkey-Greece service, via Israel, Italy, Spain and Sines, Portugal en route to Boston and beyond. The service has now shifted terminals from the PSA Atlantic Gateway, Southend terminal to PSA Fairview Cove. That presents some challenges for the harbour pilots as they navigate the length of the harbour to and from Bedford Basin.
From left to right, the Halifax Harbour Tours boat Violet Mac, harbour ferry Viola Desmond (in the distance), the amphibious Harbour Hopper 5, pilot boat Capt. E.T.Rogers and tug Atlantic Beaver (in the distance) have all cleared the way for the ship to pass.
Built in 2010 by Hyundai, Busan, the MSC Sandra is a 43,575 gt, 61,468 dwt ship with a capacity of 4340 TEU including 150 reefers. On this trip it appears to be moderately well loaded, but certainly not to capacity.
The one empty bay has presumably been left for Boston cargo. There also appears to be a substantial number of reefers stowed aft.
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