On 26 August, the company informed that two crew members on board the 8,600 TEU containership Sofia Express tested positive for COVID-19 while the vessel was at anchor at the Port of Vancouver, Canada.

“Local authorities were duly notified and the mariners were immediately isolated and brought to a quarantine facility ashore. We are hoping for a speedy recovery,” the company said in a statement.

“All other crew members on the vessel are being monitored and tested as deemed appropriate by the authorities.”

The Post-Panamax boxship is deployed in Hapag-Lloyd’s Pacific North Loop 4 (PN4) service connecting Kobe, Xiamen, Kaohsiung, Nagoya, Tokyo, Tacoma and Vancouver.

The vessel’s berthing in Vancouver was already delayed due to terminal congestion but both loading and discharging operations have been finalised. The situation involving the crew has further changed the ship’s schedule and Sofia Express is expected to continue its voyage shortly towards Pusan, according to the company.

Previously, Hapag-Lloyd reported coronavirus cases on its two US-flagged ships, Philadelphia Express and St. Louis Express, as well as on Montpellier, a containership deployed on the company’s Middle East India Africa Express (MIAX) service.