Two veteran Mediterranean Shipping Company ships arrived in Halifax today, June 26. They went to separate terminals, tying up at almost the same time. MSC England went to PSA Fairview Cove, and MSC Bhavya V went to PSA Atlantic Gateway (the South End Container Terminal).
First to arrive at the pilot station was MSC England as it had the longer run inbound to Bedford Basin, and would leave room for the second ship to maneuver off its berth.
The older of the two ships, MSC England dates from 2001 when it was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan. The 39,812 gt, 51,020 dwt ship is rated for 4132 TEU with 500 reefer points and has been retrofitted with an exhaust gas scrubber system. It has been an on again off again caller on more than one service, but this time is on the Med Canadian route and is en route from Sines, Portugal to Montreal.
Second arrival at the pilot station was MSC Bhavya V on the Montreal Express service from Montreal en route to North Europe, with the first call likely to be Antwerp. It was here previously May 14 -15 on the westbound leg and I got a not much better photo.
The difference, aside from crane positions, is the larger number of Hapag-Lloyd containers in today's photo. (This may be due to Hapag-Lloyd being short of ships on the North Atlantic - see footnote.)
The MSC Bhavya V was built by Hyundai Samho in 2005 and at 54,771 gt, 66,800 dwt, it has a capacity of 5018 TEU with 550 reefer plugs. It was built as the Santa Petrissa but was renamed Maersk Douglas on delivery. In 2010 it was renamed UASC Sharjah but reverted to Santa Petrissa again in 2012. In 2014 it became the MSC Bhavya and sailed with that name until 2023 when the "V" was added to denote is capacity class. It is also scrubber fitted.
Both ships are "getting along in years", but MSC has always been noted for operating older ships, and these apparently are still worth running.
Footnote:
Hapag-Loyd's Livorno Express suffered a main engine failure in May and was stuck in Montreal - apparently needing shipyard attention that was not available in Canada. The tug Abeille Horizon was dispatched from France and on June 23 departed Montreal towing the ship back to France. I understand that there is still some crew aboard the ship. The Quebec City based tug Ocean Tundra was tethered stern escort for the passage downstream to the vicinity of the Escoumins pilot station. Two tugs were also hired from McKeil Marine to accompany the tow for security. The Beverly M 1 was in Halifax recently towing a barge with wind turbine tower sections and the Leonard M is the former Point Halifax. Both left the tow once into the Gulf and the Tim McKeil came out from Port Daniel (perhaps coincidentally to accompany the ship as far as Cape North.)
The Livorno Express has not called in Halifax, but was a regular on the St.Lawrence, even though it was built to serve ports in West Africa that did not have ship to shore cranes. It carries four cranes of its own, three forward and one aft. It was built in 2014 by HHIC Subic as Believer. Renamed MOL Nabila from 2014 to 2016, it was then renamed Livorno Express. It is a 41,286 gt, 51,916 dwt ship with a capacity of 3832 TEU. It has had at least two previous engine failures while on St.Lawrence service.
Apologies for the poor quality, but the ship was more than a mile away on a very hot day. August 2, 2018, Cap-à-l'Aigle.
The tug and tow were reported mid-Gulf, due south of Heath Point, Anticosti at 1900 hrs ADT June 26 making 6.5 knots. The ETA for Brest is July 15.
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