The MSC Banu III made its first call in Halifax today (June 8) on the Mediterranean Shipping Company's Canada Express service. The ship is on its eastbound return leg from Montreal to Spain and Italy, with an ETA of June 16 in Malaga, Spain.
Shanghai Shipyard built the ship as Northern Devotion in 2004, but it was renamed on delivery, becoming MSC Queensland. In 2007 it was renamed MSC Banu and the Roman numeral "III", designating capacity range, was added in 2022 and it became MSC Banu III.
It is a 36,082 gt, 48,015 dwt ship with a capacity of 3400 TEU, with 500 reefer points. As usual with MSC transatlantic/ St.Lawrence routes, ships may stop in Halifax westbound to offload containers to reduce draft to suit St.Lawrence River restrictions. When eastbound they can "top off" in Halifax adding more cargo to maximize draft. This also permits an "express" service for some cargo to reduce seagoing time and speed up delivery by truck or train.
On departure this afternoon, the ship was well down on it marks and reported a draft of 12.1 meters (39'-8"). The shallowest section on the St.Lawrence, between Quebec City and Montreal has a draft restriction of 10.2 meters (35 ft). This represents a significant difference in tonnage carried on a ship.
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P.S.
There is a difference between "ship pictures" (pictures with ships in them) and "pictures of ships" (pictures with only ships in them.) See above for one of each. I usually try for the former.