Container line Hapag-Lloyd said Monday that one of its vessels diverted to Ensenada, Mexico, to evacuate three crew members with COVID-19 to a hospital.
The German carrier said the MV Rome Express, a container ship with the capacity to carry 12,552 twenty-foot equivalent units that operates on its Transpacific East Coast loop, made an unexpected port call in Ensenada after five crew members contracted the virus.
The remaining two crew members are in quarantine on the ship, Hapag-Lloyd said.
Hapag-Lloyd notified customers that their cargo could be delayed. It said the vessel would remain at port until alternate crew were tested and cleared to board.
The MV Rome was en route to Busan, South Korea, via the Panama Canal after departing Cartagena, Colombia, when the decision was made to make an emergency stop in Mexico. The weekly westbound service calls at the ports of New York-New Jersey; Norfolk, Virginia; Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia, before heading to Cartagena.
The MV Rome is now underway again in the Pacific Ocean, according to location tracking service Marine Traffic.
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