MOL Container Ship Says Screw Hurricane Sandy and Puts the Throttle Down [UPDATE 2]

While every other ship off the east coast of the United States steaming eastward trying to get the hell out of the way of Hurricane Sandy, the MOL Paramount, a 6400 TEU containership owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, is blazing along at over 22 knots trying to reach Norfolk, Virginia tomorrow evening.

This ship is currently experiencing winds greater than 40 knots and she’s on a collision course with what may be the largest storm ever recorded off the Atlantic coast of the United States.

Here is the ship’s current track as of 1702 on 28 October.

I’m sure the Captain of this ship has a darn good reason to get to port, but I can think of a better reason to turn east and hang out for a 12 hours or so…

UPDATE:  The Port of Virginia responded to our tweet this evening:

@gCaptain MOL Paramount will discover @USCG closed the sea lanes at VA Capes. We remain under condition X-Ray; harbor inaccessible from sea.

2120 Update:

Looks like the Paramount has made some good time and if all goes to plan will be on the southern side of the hurricane track fairly soon, along with the cruise ships Aidaluna, Norwegian Jewel, Explorer of the Seas, and the Carnival Miracle.

Hopefully they all brought plenty of seasickness meds…

Looks like they made it… here she is steaming inbound toward Norfolk on 31 October, thanks to Jason Wilson for the image

Updated: October 31, 2012 (Originally published October 28, 2012)

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