MSC INES

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Medevac off Sisargas Islands

On Aug 5, 2025, the medical evacuation of a crew member was requested from 'MSC Ines', en route from Antwerp to Valencia, while the ship was sailing 70 nautical miles westnorthwest of the Sisargas Islands. The CCS Fisterra of Salvamento Marítimo deployed the SAR helicopter Helimer 402 for this purpose. The patient was transported to Alvedro for the further transfer to the hospital,

Container ship waiting for spare parts to get repaired

The "MSC Ines" which had grounded at Durban harbour due to strong winds on Oct 10, 2017, remained berthed at the New Pier Containrer Terminal by March 16, 2018. The rudder of the ship had suffered damage in the accident. Repairs to the vessel were still pending for the delivery of replacement parts needed for its completition.

Durban fighting with plastci nurdles after container loss

The "MSC Ines" was remaining at the New Pier Container Terminal in Durban harbour awaiting repairs of transom, rudder and propeller, but was too large to travel in the Maydon Channel to the repair yards at Bayhead. On Oct 27 the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) ordered theMediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) to conduct an assessment of the scale of pollution following the loss of cargo into the water in Durban Harbour during the storm of Oct 10. The admissions followed reports about millions of plastic nurdles that were contaminating several hundred kilometres of beaches, from Zululand in the north to Port St Johns in the south. It turned out that several containers had been lost overboard off a MSC ship or ships that were blown from their moorings. A total of five ships broke their moorings and had to be secured after four of them were blown away from their berths. Two went aground on nearby sandbanks and another two, both MSC container ships, were blown into the open waters of the bay and toward the harbour entrance, but not before they allided with quaysides and other ships. The "MSC Ines" was blown as far as the harbour entrance channel before going aground across the entrance channel, effectively blocking it to all other shipping. While this was happening, several containers and a number of straddle carriers fell into the waters of Durban Bay. One of the containers, apparently of the "MSC Ines" was filled with sachets of plastic nurdles some of which burst open once in the water. A clean-up by Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) recovered several of these packets but others were washed by the wind and driving rain, and later by the outgoing tide, out into the entrance channel and from there out to sea. Containment measures put in place secured several bags of the nurdles and other measures were being taken to deal with the rubbish and other organic material being washed into the harbour. The concern over the nurdles centered around the plastic material absorbing any toxic material it comes in contact with, that the small pellets break into smaller pieces when exposed in the water and that fish and other sea life feed on it believing the nurdles to be fish eggs. SAMSA will undertake the monitoring and oversight role of the cleaining process. MSC will consult with the cargo owners for the technical details of the pollutant plastic. An area survey of beaches up to Umhlanga on the North Coast and Umkomaas on the South Coast beaches was conducted by a service provider accompanied by SAMSA. Minuscule presence of plastic pellets was observed at the high water mark only. Aggressive cleaning approach with a defined search pattern had been agreed upon by the joint response team as a way forward. MSC meanwhile issued a statement saying that it accepted responsibility for cleaning up the nurdles and had appointed a contractor accordingly. SAMSA had conducted surveillance and assessed the extent of the pollution in Durban harbour and the affected coastal areas and that last week it met with the Harbour Master and Pollution Control department, the Department of Environmental Affairs, and KZN Provincial Government and KZN Wildlife. On Oct 26 the two containers that were missing had been located and were to be retrieved as soon as weather conditions allowed.. A team to assess the extent of damage have travelled Northwards and Southwards. Local municipalities will be kept informed to enable surveillance team to access beaches. Reports with photos: https://africaports.co.za/2017/11/01/africa-ports-ships-maritime-news-98/#press https://africaports.co.za/#two