The general cargo ship Margaretha made a brief call in Halifax today, June 4, arriving from Ceuta, Spain and sailing for Vigo, Spain this afternoon.
Construction of the ship started at the Damen Galati Shipyard in Romania, and was completed at Damen's Hoogezand shipyard in Foxhol, Netherlands in 2002. It is a 7752 gt, 10,526 dwt multipurpose tween decker with two 60 tonne SWL cranes and a capacity of 679 TEU (other sources say 673 TEU). It has two holds and moveable bulkheads and is strengthened for heavy cargoes.
It was laid down as the Anna-C but completed as Hanna-C for Carisbrooke Shipping from the Isle of Wight, UK in 2004. It was soon renamed Corral then reverted to Hanna-C in 2004. In 2008 it became Opal Ace and in 2009 Hanna-C again until 2012. It was then renamed Margaretha when ownership changed from Carisbrooke to Rudolf Scheppers. In 2023 Reederei Jens Und Waller GmbH & Co KG took over, without change of name.
The ship has the distinctive sponsoned hull form, that keeps the cranes clear of the hatches. The ship has a double hull in the cargo holds, mostly box shaped holds and full width hatches, for no understow (termed open hatch).
Since April the ship has been in Beaumont TX, Point Comfort, TX, Pasai Antxo and Musel Arnao, Spain, Sete and Salerno, Italy sailing from Ceuta Spain, May 25.
The ship was here once previously in 2017 with a cargo rail. See my post of January 7, 2017. Canadian National Railway usually imports its rail from Poland. Ceuta, Spain is a Spanish enclave in Africa, next to Morocco and is a tax free or low tax zone.
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