MSC Napoli Grounded Again
Almost 6 months after the MSC Napoli was grounded at Branscombe Bay, off the east Devon coast, the 62,000-ton container ship was finally refloated on Monday, July 9. However, after a Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) dive survey revealed that the ship was too damaged to be towed, it was decided to rebeach the vessel near the original grounding site. Officials are now determining which actions to take in order to remove the vessel from the area for good.
On January 18, en route to Portugal from Belgium, the UK-flagged Napoli was damaged by the European windstorm Kyrill. The large waves and gale-force winds cracked the vessel’s side and flooded its engine room. Shortly thereafter, the crew sent out a distress call, abandoned ship into a liferaft, and was subsequently rescued by UK Royal Navy helicopters. The stricken ship was then to be towed about 140 miles to Portland Harbour, Dorset, but as the vessel’s list increased and its overall condition declined, it was determined that the ship could not handle the journey. The Secretary of State’s Representative, Robin Middleton, made the decision to deliberately beach the vessel in Lime Bay, at Branscombe, 1 mile from the coast of Devon, on January 20.
During the nearly 6-month-long salvage operation, many different tasks had to be taken care of in order to refloat the Napoli. Firstly, more than 2,000 containers and 4,000 tons of fuel were removed from the ship. Secondly, steel scrap, containers, and other waste materials that washed up onshore were collected. Additionally, around 1,900 seabirds that were harmed by the 200 tons of oil that leaked from the Napoli soon after its grounding had to be taken care of. Finally, on Monday, July 9, 58,000 tons of water were pumped from the ship’s holds and, with the help of a big foot barge’s winches and cranes and a leading tug, the ship was refloated, with anti-pollution/support vessels keeping a close eye on her.
However, after a hull inspection determined that the vessel could not be towed, it was decided by Robin Middleton to rebeach the Napoli. The ship’s situation is best summarized by Mr. Middleton’s statement released in a MCA press release on July 12: “My decision to re-beach the MSC Napoli was taken following the re-floating of the vessel earlier this week which highlighted the fact that the wreck is in a worse state of deterioration than previously thought, with the crack of the hull being some 3m wide in places.”
The Napoli was rebeached on high tide late afternoon on Thursday, July 12. The MCA then used cutting charges to break the Napoli in two. The explosion took place on the ship in order to weaken the deck above the hull’s crack so that tugs could pull the ship apart. As of a July 18 MCA press release, “The operation to separate the deck plates of the MSC Napoli has been successful but two longitudinals remain intact preventing separation of the two halves.” When MarEx went online, the MCA intended to have tugs “flex the vessel structure” in order to separate the halves. If this fails, more cutting charges will be used on the Napoli on Friday. Once in two, the MCA plans to have the bow of the ship floated and towed for salvage, while the stern will be left grounded on the seabed to be towed at a later time.