MSC MONTEREY, Cracked Hull, Passengers Evacuated — Updated

Update: January 3, 2013, Good news for MSC MONTEREY, according to a report on gCaptain by Mike Schule, the crack in the main deck of the container ship resulted from a bad welding seam and will can repaired while the ship remains at anchor near Little Colinet Island in St. Mary’s Bay Newfoundland.  It is expected the ship will proceed to Boston on January 11th after temporary repairs are made.

Update: December 31, 2013,  Transportation Safety Board of Canada have ordered the MSC MONTEREY to remain at an anchor east of Little Colinet Island, in eastern Newfoundland’s St. Mary’s Bay. A team is heading to eastern Newfoundland to inspect the ship’s cracked hull. The department said there was no immediate threat to the crew or the environment.

Update: December 30, 2013, according to the ship’s owners REEDEREI NSB, a crack measuring one and half meters was discovered, and opened another 30 centimeters on Sunday, spreading to the outer hull some eight meters above the waterline.

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Original: MSC MONTEREY, a 2008-built container ship was sailing from the Belgium port of Antwerp to Boston, MA where she was expected January 2, when according to reports, cracks in her main deck were discovered.  A distress call was made 11:30am Sunday regarding the hull problems and two Cormorant helicopters from Gander, N.L., and a Hercules aircraft from Greenwood, N.S., were dispatched.  Now all four passengers have been airlifted from the ship.

The 275 m (902 ft) vessel is currently sheltering south of Newfoundland, near Trepassey Harbour at anchor.  Canadian Coastguard vessels GEORGE R PEARKES and CCGS TELEOST are in the vicinity.  Seas of 3 to 5 meters, 25 knot NW wind, -7 C temperature are expected to give way to more mild conditions, but gale force winds are expected by noon Monday. There are no injuries reported. Twenty crew members remain on the MSC MONTEREY to resolve the issue.

MSC MONTEREY can carry up to six passengers.  Accommodation consists of a 340 sq ft Owners suite and two double cabins, one at 340 sq ft and one at 270 sq ft.

The ship was named on October 12, 2007  at the Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries in Mangalia, Romania and currently managed by Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. and flagged in Liberia.  TEU  capacity is 4892 (twenty-foot equivalent unit an inexact unit of cargo capacity often used to describe the capacity of container ships. It is based on the volume of a 20-foot-long (6.1 m) intermodal container).