MSC Ins and Outs [revised due to gremlins]

 It was a quick change at PSA Atlantic Hub today with the departure of one MSC ship followed within an hour or so by another MSC arrival.

MSC Rossella arrived over night and tied up in the early hours of this morning July 27, one month after its previous arrival. On that visit it did not dock, but anchored for Canadian Food Inspection Agency clearance en route from Europe to Montreal. It was the ship's first visit to Canada after earlier calls in the Far East, and had to be inspected for LDA moth larva before proceeding further into Canadian waters. See my post of June 27

Since that brief visit the ship has been to Montreal, Sines, Portugal and Valenica, Spain, and is now en route back to Montreal. It presumably off loaded some cargo to reduce draft for the St.Lawrence River.

 

On departure the ship showed lots of empty deck space aft - perhaps to make room to load empties in Montreal. As noted in the previous post, the 3398 TEU capacity ship dates from 1993 when it was launched by Samsung Koje as Hansa Europe. Delivered as Ville de Carina, it became MSC Rossella in 1997. The relativley small size of 27,398 gt, 43,603 dwt makes the ship suitable for St.Lawrence River routes such as CANEX1.

Pier 42 was not vacant for long as the inbound MSC Santhya tied up for noon, arriving from Montreal on the CANEX 2 service. While the ship was approaching the pilot station, it projected an interesting optical phenomenon, "reflecting" an elongated version of its hull:

These sights are not uncommon, and can be seen off Halifax when the right conditions of very hot air and cool water prevail.

The ship eventually loomed into view in the normal form - not a mirage.

MSC Santhya is also an older ship, built in 1991 by Bremer Vulkan, Vegesack, as Vladivostok. In 1991 it became DSR Senator and in 2000 Baykal Senator. It took its present name in 2004. A 37,021 gt, 46,600 dwt ship,it has a capacity of 3007 TEU (including 100 reefers) but was far from that capacity on arrival today. It will top up with some more containers before sailing on to Spain and Italy.

[Gremlins attacked the first version of this post, which has now been revised.]

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Taking Turns

 PSA Halifax's Atlantic Hub (former Halterm) was full up again today, May 3, [see yesterday's post]. With MSC Brianna at Pier 41, MSC Santhya made an early morning arrival at Pier 42. Meanwhile ZIM's Contship Leo has been anchored offshore for the last couple of days.

MSC Santhya is an unusual ship, partly because of its age. It was built in 1991 by Bremer Vulkan, Vegesack as Vladivostok but was quickly renamed DSR Senator. It is rare that a ship has the same name as the owner company (or vice-versa). In 1991 the East German company Deutsche Seereederei Rostock (DSR) began a cooperation with the West German company Senator Lines (itself a subsidiary of Bremer Vulkan). The two actually merged in 1994 to form DSR-Senator Lines. (Eventually Hanjin acquired 80% of the company, with F.Laiesz holding about 10%. The company was wound up in 2009, and Hanjin was declared bankrupt in 2017.)

In 2004 the ship was renamed Baykal Senator for a further charter, which lasted until 2004 when it was taken up by MSC and renamed.

The ship measures 37,071 gt, 46,600 dwt, with a capacity of 3007 TEU and has 100 reefer plugs

The ship serves MSC's Canada Express 1 service from Italy to Montreal. It normally stops in Sines Portugal as it last Europena stop. However it did not do so this time, sailing directly from Naples. Other MSC lines also stop in Sines, so I wonder if this is the start of a new express service from Italy. Certainly several days are shaved off by dropping Sines and calling first in Halifax before heading for Montreal. The ship would normally call in Halifax anyway to reduce draft due to St.Lawrence River restrictions, so offloading here in effect creates a true express service. The reverse would also be true when the ship calls in Halifax eastbound to "top up", allowing last minute cargo an extra day or two to get to Halifax by road or rail after the ship sails from Montreal.

See also yesterday's post about a new MSC service starting later this week.

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