Giant MSC Boxship Badly Damaged in Allision at Port of Istanbul

The 19,000 TEU boxship MSC Tina allided with a pier at the Port of Istanbul on Saturday, leaving a deep gash down the side of her hull. 

The impact badly damaged the vessel and the pier at Istanbul's Marport complex, according to Turkey's General Directorate of Maritime Affairs. Photos from the scene show a long, neat gash in the hull several feet high. 

No injuries or pollution were reported, and the vessel has been anchored just off the port for an inspection. The cause of the incident is under investigation. 

Scheduling setback

The 2017-built MSC Tina is deployed on MSC's TC3 rotation, serving Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Singapore, Port Said, Piraeus, Izmit and Istanbul. The allision is a new scheduling setback for MSC, which - like all container lines on the main Asia-Europe trunk route - reports severe operational impacts from the ongoing Suez Canal shutdown. 

"MSC expects [the Suez blockage] to have a very significant impact on the movement of containerized goods, disrupting supply chains beyond the existing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We thank you for understanding that this incident is beyond MSC’s control," the carrier said. 

11 MSC/2M vessels have been rerouted to avoid the canal logjam, and two - the MSC Stella, currently in the Red Sea, and the Seamax Darien, currently in the Mediterranean - have seen their voyages canceled. 19 more of the line's vessels are near the canal or in it and are waiting at anchor.