Since 08:45 on Tuesday 22 September 2026, Singapore time, the MSC Hermes III container ship has had no seafarers on board. At that time, Singapore's Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) received a distress signal from the vessel as it was sailing in the South China Sea, about 162 nautical miles east of Vietnam and within the city-state's search and rescue region. The entire crew of 25 seafarers abandoned ship in a lifeboat, and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said no one was injured.
Immediately after receiving the alert, the MRCC issued a request for assistance to vessels in the area. Three vessels responded and the seafarers were rescued by another MSC container ship, the 13,000-TEU MSC Ruby. The Singapore centre is coordinating with its Vietnamese counterpart over the disembarkation of the seafarers, but no destination port has yet been announced. The MPA statement gives no indication of the nature of the emergency, with no reference to mechanical failures, flooding, collisions or fire. In the hours immediately after the evacuation, reports circulated of a fire on board, but no official source has confirmed them. The shipowner has also yet to issue a statement on the reasons for abandoning the vessel or on the condition of the hull.
The vessel is reported to remain afloat. A HYDROPAC navigational warning, from the US series covering NAVAREA XI, lists it as an abandoned vessel adrift. The reported position is close to 11°45' north and 112°15' east, about eight nautical miles north-east of the point from which the distress signal was sent. AIS tracking showed MSC Hermes III drifting slowly north-east, with MSC Ruby remaining nearby. MSC Florentina and MSC Turin III were also operating in the same area.
Built in Poland in 2006, the vessel is Liberian-flagged. It is 212 metres long, has a deadweight of 38,193 tonnes and joined the MSC fleet in 2020. At the time of the emergency, it was bound for Jakarta, after a call at Shanghai and a transit via Hong Kong. The stretch of sea in which it was left drifting is one of East Asia's busiest shipping corridors, linking southern China, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia, making the presence of a drifting vessel in the area particularly hazardous.
