The containership Msc Silvana VIII, IMO 9309459, is lying heavily listed and partly submerged in the waters off Daishan, in the Zhoushan archipelago, eastern China. The vessel, managed by Mediterranean Shipping Company, is understood to have first grounded during the night of 11-12 July, when Typhoon Bavi made landfall in Zhejiang with winds of up to 40 metres per second. This was reported by Xinde Marine News, which reconstructed the incident using the vessel’s AIS tracks, with the news also carried outside China by Splash24 and Lloyd’s List.
The containership, built in 2006 by South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, now Hanwha Ocean, had left Gwangyang, South Korea, on 21 June after a stop of around two days. On 22 June, it arrived in the Zhoushan shiprepair area, within the Daishan industrial cluster. Around 11 July, the vessel left the berth linked to the repair work, without resuming regular liner service. An attempt to refloat it in the early hours of 4 August was unsuccessful. The vessel’s condition deteriorated further on 6 August, when a large section of the hull went underwater. Specialist publication Splash247 confirms that the stern sank after the refloating operation failed, with several holds and the engine room flooded, while around 3,000 tonnes of fuel have been removed from the vessel.
According to a source cited by Xinde Marine News, the Silvana VIII was still without normal propulsion capability at the time of the typhoon, as the work had not been completed. The vessel is believed to have grounded for the first time during the storm, before being refloated close to high tide with the assistance of tugs and pilots. However, in continuing adverse weather conditions, it is thought to have shifted again, grounding for a second time in another position, where it remains. The publication notes that AIS data confirm the vessel’s movements (it is shown as stationary on the VesselFinder platform), but do not explain their causes.
According to shipping database records updated on 31 July, MSC is listed as the beneficiary, shipmanager and commercial operator of the Silvana VIII. MSC Shipmanagement Ltd is the DOC and technical manager, while Proviso Corp is the registered owner: the vessel is therefore part of the fleet directly controlled by the company, rather than tonnage chartered from third parties. The group has not yet issued a public statement on the casualty.
The year 2026 marks the containership’s twentieth year in service, a milestone that coincides with the usual five-year Special Survey cycle required by classification societies for oceangoing vessels, including hull inspections and time in dry dock. However, it has not been confirmed whether the stop in Zhoushan was specifically linked to the 20-year class renewal: Xinde Marine News did not obtain access to the vessel’s detailed classification status.
Salvage operations must now contend with a second typhoon. At 10.00 on 8 August, Dolphin, known as Baihaitun in China, was classified as a severe typhoon with maximum winds of 45 metres per second, and was expected to make landfall between the evening of 9 August and the morning of 10 August along the coast between Zhoushan, in Zhejiang, and Fuding, in Fujian. Winds of force 9-12, with gusts of up to force 14, were forecast for Zhejiang’s coastal waters. Zhoushan is one of the world’s leading shiprepair hubs, and the Daishan cluster hosts yards capable of handling some of the largest merchant vessels. At present, there is no official information on possible injuries, pollution, definitive structural damage or the amount of fuel still on board.
