THE MSC Wallaby service containership MSC Maritina V, which was forced to anchor in Port Phillip Bay’s South Channel off Sorrento yesterday morning after an engine malfunction, has been detained by AMSA pending investigations.
The 5,057 TEU, 20 year old vessel, previously seen in Australian waters as Maersk Launceston was acquired by MSC in 2023 and subsequently fitted with an exhaust scrubber, reported a main engine alarm as it was inbound from Tauranga. It was precautionarily anchored immediately, forcing Ports Victoria to close the channel to all large commercial traffic for several hours.
By late afternoon MSC Maritina V had been taken to the Melbourne outer anchorage by designated Svitzer ETV, Svitzer Albatross from Geelong assisted by Tingari from Melbourne. AMSA said the vessel will remain under detention until it is satisfied its is fully seaworthy to resume its voyage.
MSC Maritina V had been due to take the place of the departing Koala service vessel MSC Capetown III at VICT but as it was unable to do so, another Wallaby vessel, the southbound MSC Shina V which had been queued at anchor awaiting its turn, was brought alongside.
Ironically, the 5,117 TEU MSC Shina V, also built in 2005 and acquired by MSC last year, was formerly known as Shiling and notoriously had to be ‘rescued’ after twice breaking down off the NZ coast when in OOCL charter in 2023. It was later towed to Asia for repairs and was the subject of a scathing NZ TAIC report.
In a difficult few days for MSC locally, the 6,350 TEU MSC Barbara, on the carrier’s Panda service, grounded in mud in the Brisbane River on Monday after being blown off its Fisherman Islands berth in a storm. It was quickly refloated and taken to anchorage by four tugs.