MSC box ship OK

MSC box ship OK The 1984-built containership “MSC Tampa,” which was last week towed out of the way of traffic in the busy Dover Strait, was quickly fixed and is said to be on schedule to arrive at the Port of Boston, from Le Havre in France, on April 21.
   The 3,016-TEU vessel is chartered by Mediterranean Shipping Co. for use on its weekly North Atlantic service. The U.S. branch of the Geneva-based carrier had contacted Shippers’ NewsWire via a public relations agency to say the “MSC Tampa” did not suffer engine failure at all, but instead performed general maintenance that was scheduled in port, contradicting a release issued by the British Maritime Coastguard Agency last Wednesday.
   In a telephone interview, the MCA stood by its release and quoted details logged by the Dover Coastguard, including that the “MSC Tampa” was in a “frantic state” after it lost power and dragged anchor before requesting assistance when it couldn’t contact the ship owner. The Dover Coastguard immediately requested the MCA’s Emergency Towing Vessel (ETV) “Anglian Monarch” to tow the box ship out of the shipping lane towards a safe anchorage, two miles south of Folkestone.
   This was the second time in the space of a few months that an MSC-operated ship has needed assistance from the MCA, following the deliberate grounding in mid-January of the “MSC Napoli” off the Devon Coast.