Dismantling Underway for the Beached Wreck of MSC Baltic III in Canada

The efforts are underway to dismantle the containership MSC Baltic III, according to the most recent update from the Canadian Coast Guard. It will be a complex operation requiring possibly a year or more, involving breaking the ship into pieces and pulling it onto the beach to be cut up and trucked away for recycling.

Favorable weather at the site, which is in a remote area of Newfoundland, about 30 miles from Corner Brook, permitted the wreck removal team increased access to the vessel. A barge was positioned alongside, and they have been removing material from the ship.

Preparation work is also underway on shore. A switchback road is being created down to the beach in front of the vessel to get equipment and trucks to the site, while improvements were also made to the access road to Cedar Cove, where the vessel came to rest in February 2025.

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and its insurers retained Resolve Marine earlier in the spring for the second phase of the recovery operation. Resolve will be undertaking the removal of the ship and the restoration efforts in the area.

During the first phase of the clean-up conducted in 2025, the Canadian Coast Guard reported that 409 of the 462 containers aboard the ship, including dangerous goods, had been removed. All the bulk fuel, approximately 1,700 metric tons, was also removed.

A barge is alongside as material is being removed from the wreck (Canadian Coast Guard)

Resolve reported that in the first phase, it would complete the removal of the remaining containers, many of which were reported to be waterlogged. The Canadian Coast Guard also said that, in addition to residual amounts of fuel, the ship has contaminated water aboard.

Preparation work aboard the MSC Baltic III, Resolve reported, would include the welding of rigging points. The plan calls for separating the ship at the break point in the hull. The forward section will be pulled onto the beach and cut apart. The fuel tanks will be further cleaned, and work on the removal of the accommodation block will also get underway. The cut will be forward of the engine room of the vessel. After the bow section has been recycled and similar operation will pull the stern section to shore.

Resolve Marine has said it will get the first phase completed during 2026 and that work will continue until winter conditions set in over the area. Additional removal work is likely for 2027.

The Canadian Coast Guard currently says the wreck is stable with no significant change to its condition recently. In May, it had reported that the wreck, however, was in poor condition after heavy weather and ice conditions during the winter. There is significant damage to the hull, including a crack in the port side. There is also buckling on the starboard side and a crack that was worsening on the deck of the vessel.

MSC Baltic III had been heading for Newfoundland in February 2025 when the vessel blacked out in a strong winter storm. It was driven into the cove, and the Canadians organized a daring helicopter rescue of the crew. The ship ended up aground on the shoreline in Cedar Cove, with the stern settling to the seafloor. Under Canadian law, MSC and its insurers are responsible for the removal operation and the cost of the cleanup.