MSC Sends Dutch Heavy-Lift Ship to Antarctica, Sparking Foreign-Flag Debate

Military Sealift Command last week wrapped up cargo loadout operations in Port Hueneme, California, for Operation Deep Freeze 2026, sending the Dutch-flagged heavy-lift ship Plantijngracht southbound for McMurdo Station, Antarctica—a charter that has once again stirred questions about MSC’s reliance on foreign-flag tonnage for critical U.S. government missions.

Between December 21 and January 7, stevedores loaded 305 pieces of cargo aboard the vessel, ranging from construction materials and heavy equipment to life-support supplies needed to sustain the remote research base through the Antarctic winter. The ship is also carrying a 65-ton floating Modular Causeway System (MCS) that will replace McMurdo’s traditional ice pier, a key piece of infrastructure for future resupply seasons.

Four members of Military Sealift Command Pacific’s Expeditionary Port Unit oversaw the complex loadout, coordinating between the ship’s crew, terminal services, and MSC planners. Navy Cmdr. Allan Phillips, commanding officer of the unit, said the deployment offered reservists a rare look at the Navy’s commercial logistics backbone.

“This mission gives us a broader experience of what goes on [for] the logistics side of the Navy; most specifically with MSC and the way they do business,” Phillips said. “For us as reservists, it takes us away from the warship aspect of the Navy and focuses us on working with civilians and MSC.”

The team began work just before Christmas and kept operations moving through the holidays. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Marilyn Lazar, a hospital corpsman assigned to the unit, said the assignment underscored how niche missions fit into the larger defense picture.

“For the enlisted members of the team, we get to see how this type of mission plays into the big picture of an operation,” Lazar said.

After a stop in Christchurch, New Zealand, to take on additional cargo, Plantijngracht will steam roughly 8,040 nautical miles over nearly a month before reaching McMurdo. Navy Cargo Handling Battalion ONE will then offload and assemble the causeway sections and begin full cargo operations. The ship is also scheduled to backhaul retrograde material, including waste streams and ice core samples bound for U.S. laboratories.

Questions Over the Charter

The decision to use a Dutch-flagged vessel rather than a U.S.-flag ship has drawn pushback from parts of the maritime community. Sal Mercogliano, maritime historian and host of the “What’s Going On in Shipping” YouTube channel, argued that the choice undercuts efforts to rebuild the American merchant marine.

He said MSC should “examine MSC contracting practices that favor foreign flag ships over US ships” if defense leaders are serious about strengthening domestic sealift.

Citing an unconfirmed account, Mercogliano said the foreign vessel was reportedly chosen because the prospective U.S. ship was outside the 3,000-mile radius of Port Hueneme at the time of award and would have arrived four days late. Yet he noted that roughly a quarter of the cargo was already expected to be a week behind schedule, meaning the U.S-flag option could have loaded and sailed on a similar timeline.

MSC addressed the controversy in a statement to gCaptain, explaining that a competitive procurement process began in October 2025.?? “The solicitation did not yield any technically acceptable results and therefore it was re-opened on November 14, 2025. That yielded only one available and technically acceptable vessel. That ship was a foreign-flagged vessel, operated by a U.S. company and they were subsequently awarded the contract on December 10, 2025.”?

Long-Running Mission

Operation Deep Freeze is a Defense Support to Civilian Authorities mission conducted in partnership with the National Science Foundation, which manages the U.S. Antarctic Program. The effort draws active-duty, Guard, and Reserve personnel from across the services and operates primarily out of Christchurch and McMurdo. MSC-chartered ships have made the annual run to Antarctica since the station was established in 1955.

Last season, MSC employed U.S.-flagged MV Ocean Gladiator and MV Ocean Giant for Deep Freeze 2025. Those ships delivered 321 pieces of cargo and conducted the first operational use of the Marine Causeway System as a replacement for the aging ice pier.

The Department of Defense solicitation released in August 2025 called for an 85-day dry-cargo time charter and allowed either U.S. or foreign-flag vessels that met technical requirements. The contract specified a self-sustaining lift-on/lift-off breakbulk ship with at least 750 TEU capacity, 50 reefer plugs, and two 100-metric-ton cranes.

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