BLUE MASTER II (IMO 9465411) Table Bay, Cape Town
BLUE MASTER II IMO 9465411 | Cape Town Ship Spotting Photography
Photographing BLUE MASTER II (IMO 9465411), a multipurpose commercial vessel on the South African maritime route, from the Cape Town waterfront.
Photographer's Note: BLUE MASTER II (IMO 9465411) was photographed by Vernon Chalmers in Table Bay, Cape Town. The image forms part of the Vernon Chalmers Photography Maritime Studies Project and is also published in the Shipspotting.com database.
BLUE MASTER II, IMO 9465411, a multipurpose commercial vessel photographed from the Cape Town waterfront as part of Vernon Chalmers Photography's ship-spotting and maritime photography work.
BLUE MASTER II (IMO 9465411)
BLUE MASTER II carries the international identity IMO 9465411, an identifier that remains with the vessel throughout her working life. She was built in 2013 and is approximately 200 metres long, 30 metres in beam and has a deadweight of about 37,444 tonnes. Her gross tonnage is 30,469.
She is currently registered under the Marshall Islands flag and has the callsign V7ZQ4. Her MMSI is 538090451.
Vessel Overview
- Type: General Cargo / Multipurpose / Container Ship
- Built: 2013 (13 years old)
- Flag: Marshall Islands
- Length x Breadth: 200 m × 30 m
- Deadweight (DWT): 37,444 tonnes
- Gross Tonnage: 30,469 tons
- Call Sign: V7ZQ4
- MMSI: 538090451
Vernon Chalmers Ship Spotting Photography Portfolio
A multipurpose working vessel
BLUE MASTER II is an interesting example of the modern multipurpose commercial vessel. Port of Hamburg records her as a multipurpose vessel, with a stated container capacity of approximately 2,225 TEU and cargo-handling equipment rated at 240 tonnes SWL. Her recorded service speed is around 19 knots.
This combination gives the vessel a very different photographic character from a highly specialised tanker or a huge modern container ship.
The deck arrangement, cargo-handling equipment and superstructure provide numerous visual layers. Booms, cranes, containers, hatch covers, railings, accommodation blocks and exhaust structures create a strong network of horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines. At 200 metres in length, she is also large enough for perspective to become an important part of the photograph.
A long-lens image from shore can therefore isolate individual sections of the vessel, while a wider view can establish the relationship between the ship, harbour infrastructure and surrounding landscape.
ShipSpotting.com for Maritime Photographers
BLUE MASTER II and the South African coast
Her relevance to Cape Town photography is particularly interesting.
BLUE MASTER II operates within a European–Southern African liner network associated with MACS, with the published rotation including Hamburg, Antwerp, Leixões, Walvis Bay, Cape Town, Maputo, Gqeberha, Durban, Richards Bay and a return to Cape Town before continuing northward.
In late August 2026 she travelled south from Durban and subsequently reached Cape Town on 2 September 2026. AIS records show the Durban departure on 30 August and her Cape Town arrival on 2 September.
This gives the ship a useful context for the Cape Town ship-spotter: she is not an isolated visitor but part of a recurring commercial maritime system linking Southern Africa with European ports.
That recurring movement is one of the attractions of ship photography. The photograph records not only an individual vessel but a moment within a much larger logistical network.
Table Bay Maritime Environment Through Photography
Photographing the vessel
From a photographic perspective, BLUE MASTER II offers several opportunities.
A long-lens side view can compress the vessel against the background and emphasise her immense length. A focal length in the 100–400mm region can be particularly useful depending on the shooting position, while a 150–600mm lens provides opportunities to isolate details at considerable distance.
A bow or stern three-quarter view introduces perspective and makes the vessel appear to move through the frame. This is often more dynamic than a purely broadside photograph.
The superstructure is another subject in its own right. Windows, ladders, communication equipment, vents, lifeboats and deck fittings provide opportunities for tighter studies that move beyond conventional ship identification.
Then there are the details that establish identity: the vessel name, IMO number where visible, funnel markings, hull configuration and cargo arrangement.
For the serious ship-spotting photographer, these details are not incidental. They form part of the visual evidence by which the vessel can be identified and documented.
Scale becomes part of the photograph
One of the great photographic difficulties with a vessel approaching 200 metres in length is communicating its actual size.
A ship photographed against empty water can sometimes appear surprisingly small. Introducing a tug, harbour building, vehicle, container stack, crane or person into the composition immediately provides a scale reference.
Cape Town is particularly suitable for this kind of photography because the harbour environment can supply numerous fixed and moving reference points.
The resulting photograph becomes more than a record of a ship. It becomes a study in scale — a human-built object of enormous dimensions placed within an even larger industrial and geographical environment.
A ship in motion
There is also an important distinction between photographing a ship and photographing a ship in operation.
BLUE MASTER II is a working vessel. Her movements between ports, her cargo operations and her navigation through coastal waters are what give the subject meaning.
A photograph taken while she is manoeuvring, departing or approaching port can therefore be considerably more expressive than a static record alongside a berth.
Shutter speed becomes part of the creative decision. A relatively fast shutter speed can freeze the vessel and reveal structural detail. A slower speed can introduce movement into the water while retaining enough definition in the ship itself. The objective is not simply technical sharpness but a visual representation of movement.
The maritime documentary approach
BLUE MASTER II also fits naturally into a broader documentary approach to photography.
A good ship photograph does not necessarily have to be spectacular. It can be observational.
The vessel entering the frame.
A crew area illuminated by early morning light.
Cargo equipment silhouetted against the sky.
The wake extending behind the stern.
A name painted on the hull.
A vessel waiting patiently while the harbour works around it.
These seemingly ordinary moments can become valuable visual records.
The IMO number — 9465411 — provides the factual anchor. The photograph provides the human visual interpretation.
Together they create a small piece of maritime history.
From Durban to Cape Town — and onward
The recent BLUE MASTER II voyage illustrates precisely why following individual vessels can add depth to ship-spotting photography.
Her recorded movement from Durban to Cape Town covered roughly 807 nautical miles, with the vessel arriving in Cape Town on 2 September 2026. Subsequent AIS information places her in Cape Town, with Walvis Bay indicated as the next destination.
The ship therefore becomes part of a continuing geographical narrative:
Durban → Cape Town → Walvis Bay → Europe → Southern Africa
The photograph taken at Cape Town is one frame within that much larger journey.
That is perhaps the most compelling aspect of commercial ship photography. The photographer may see only a few minutes of the vessel's life, but the IMO number allows that moment to be connected to a continuing record of voyages, ports and operations.
BLUE MASTER II is a particularly good example of why ship spotting can develop into serious photographic documentary work.
She is large without being visually overwhelming in the manner of the world's biggest container ships. Her multipurpose configuration provides an interesting mixture of cargo infrastructure and maritime engineering. Her regular Southern African service gives her geographical relevance, while her IMO number provides a permanent point of identification.
For the photographer, she offers several levels of engagement: the overall vessel, the engineering detail, the harbour environment, the movement of the ship and the wider story of international trade.
A photograph of BLUE MASTER II can therefore be much more than a photograph of a ship.
It can be a photograph of scale, movement, infrastructure and global connection — recorded from the perspective of Cape Town's working waterfront.
Photographic Equipment
Camera: Canon EOS R6 Mark III
Lens: Canon RF 800mm f/11 IS STM Lens
Photographic Genre: Maritime Photography / Ship Spotting
Post Processing: Adobe Lightroom Classic Version 15
Location: Table Bay, Cape Town, South Africa
