Iran Claims to Have Hit an MSC Container Ship in the Mideast
On Saturday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed a drone strike on an MSC container ship at a position in the Gulf region.
"A drone struck the vessel . . . linked to the Zionist regime in the Strait of Hormuz; the ship caught fire," the IRGC claimed in a statement on X, naming the target vessel as the MSC Ishyka.
A vessel broadcasting the name MSC Ishyka III - but listed in Equasis as MSC Ishyka (IMO 9154206) - operates on a regional route between India, Africa and the Arabian Gulf. Based on the ship's most recent AIS signature, MSC Ishyka III is not in the Strait of Hormuz, but at berth in Manama, Bahrain (per Pole Star Global).
Like hundreds of other merchant vessels, MSC Ishyka III was trapped inside the Gulf when U.S. forces attacked Iran on February 28, and was at berth in Manama on that date. Her AIS signal disappeared from tracking that afternoon, and remained off for one month.
The ship reappeared on the morning of April 2 at a different nearby berth in Manama. About 24 hours later, her AIS transmission ceased once more and has not reappeared; it is possible that she may have transited elsewhere after that point, and her exact position cannot be confirmed. Given the vessel's AIS-dark status, it is unclear if the ship has been continuously at Bahrain or if she has been engaged in intra-Gulf trade, which continues despite substantial risk.
As of Sunday, no authorities or bystanders have corroborated the strike; the IRGC has previously claimed success in attacks that did not occur or that missed their target. UKMTO has omitted the claimed drone strike on MSC Ishyka III from its official daily list of confirmed shipping incidents in the Gulf.
The MSC Ishyka III is a 34,000 dwt container feeder built in 1997. She has been operated by MSC since 2014, and is currently owned by Pasithea Oceanway Ltd., a holding company with a mailing address at an MSC office in Cyprus.
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Despite the IRGC's claims, MSC has no discernable links to Israel beyond providing shipping services to Israeli ports. The Ishyka itself has no direct ownership or operational ties to Israeli interests, and has not called in Israel in at least the past six months. Iran-linked Houthi rebels have previously targeted MSC ships based on a claimed but apparently unfounded link to Israeli shipping.
Top image: MSC Ishyka (Manuel Hernandez Lafuente / Vesselfinder, 2015)
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