MSC Napoli offers salvage template

While memories of cargo washing up on the beaches of Devon are fading in the public imagination, the MSC Napoli salvage is giving the industry a template for future containership casualties, writes Janet Porter in Portland Thursday 10 May 2007

FOUR months after MSC Napoli hit the headlines across the world as the 4,700 teu containership started to break up in the English Channel, the accident is all but forgotten outside maritime circles.

But for those salvaging the cargo and preparing to remove the wreck, work continues round the clock as containers are cut out of the ship and taken by shuttle barge to Portland in Dorset.

Only when that is completed within the next two or three weeks can salvors attempt to refloat the ship that is almost split in two, close to the accommodation block.

Never before has there been an incident quite like this — and all involved agree it has been a huge learning experience for the whole shipping industry.

“With the benefit of hindsight” is a frequently heard remark from contractors and others now engaged in removing more than 2,300 containers from the UK-flag MSC Napoli that was deliberately beached last January as it started to crack during a severe storm.

Even so, experts are in complete agreement about one key issue.

“We must not lose sight of what a success this was,” says the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s Mark Rodaway of MSC Napoli’s rescue.

Mr Rodaway, who was the district officer on duty in Weymouth the night the ship was towed to shelter, recalls how well the British and French emergency services worked together as the decision was made to take MSC Napoli into Lyme Bay rather than somewhere on the rockier coast of northern France.

“There were no politics at play,” he says. “This was very much a team effort.”

That spirit continued, with the ship’s owner, Zodiac Maritime, and charterer Mediterranean Shipping Co, working closely with Dutch salvage company Smit, and contractors such as Braemar Seacope’s hazardous response specialist subsidiary DV Howells, and clean-up experts DRS Demolition National.

MSC’s chairman Gianluigi Aponte has personally attended meetings to review the salvage effort, while Zodiac has representatives stationed virtually full-time in Portland.

“Everyone has come up with ideas. Adaptability is the key,” says David Duffield of marine consultants BMT Murray Fenton which represents MSC Napoli’s P&I insurer, the London Club.

The clear-up “has not been straightforward and has needed a lot of improvisation and co-ordination”, adds Christian Severan, MSC’s claims director.

At the centre of the whole operation is Robin Middleton, the Secretary of State’s Representative, who has been in sole charge from the moment MSC Napoli entered British waters. This unique appointment has proved a huge success, eliminating split responsibilities that have so often muddled other maritime emergencies.

“It is a very good system,” says Bert Kleijwegt, senior salvage consultant for Smit Salvage who is now in Portland overseeing the removal of the last containers still trapped in MSC Napoli’s holds.

Zodiac’s operations director Paul Shields agrees. “The Sosrep system has worked very well from day one,” he believes. Mr Middleton, who is spending much of his time in Portland, originally hoped to bring the stricken ship into the Dorset harbour. But as the weather worsened and the ship’s condition deteriorated, MSC Napoliwas instead towed to Lyme Bay, a World Heritage site, and deliberately run aground.

Portland was still regarded as the most convenient port to which to take the retrieved cargo. Southampton, although operating a deepwater container terminal, was considered too far away and also not well-placed to cope with so much unexpected cargo.

In many respects, the far less busy Portland “was a dream destination,” says Mr Middleton who has authority over the shipowner, charterer, and port operator when handling a shipping emergency.

But Mr Middleton and others admit that relations with Portland management have been fraught at times.

“There have been tensions ... and a lot of brinkmanship,” he told Lloyd’s List.

From the air, it is easy to see why, with space at a premium as dirty, battered and crushed containers pile up on the cramped quayside. A patch of land has been converted into a “hospital” where boxes containing hazardous cargoes are processed, and trucks arriving to take spoiled or damaged cargo to recycling or landfill sites across the country have to squeeze past dozens of contractors’ vehicles, cars and heavylift equipment brought in by the salvors. Extra steel plating has been laid down to to reinforce one of the container stacking areas, and the port has been promised full reparation once the operation is completed.

Lloyd’s List was unable to speak to Portland Port management about the disruption caused by the MSC Napoli cargo.

Mr Middleton expects to make a number of recommendations following the experiences gained from this accident. In particular, he feels Sosrep’s authority should be extended to cover cargo owners as well.

Congestion has been caused in part by delays in moving freight out of the port, with some shippers slow to collect cargo that has been earmarked for disposal. Mr Middleton also would like to have seen more frequent collection by the feedership MSC Grace of containers cleared for onward delivery.

Another problem that has emerged is insufficient information about cargo on the ship’s manifest. Cargo surveyors charged with opening and de-vanning each container would like to have known more about the chemical properties of hazardous materials onboard, for example, or how certain substances are likely to react with salt water. Full contact details for consignees would have been useful as well. Mr Middleton agrees that his work was helped by the fact the MSC Napoliwas registered in the UK, so providing easy access to the owner.

The weather has also worked in favour of the salvors who hope to be able to remove the wreck from its resting place just off the Devon coast next month — although at this stage there is no telling what residual strength there is in the hull and whether the ship will snap in half when dislodged.

But what MSC Napoli is providing is a template for future containership casualties.

Mr Middleton is in no doubt that the decision to bring the ship to Lyme Bay was the correct one, despite some local misgivings about cargo washing up along the famous Jurassic coast.

Risking it sinking out at sea would have been far worse in terms of pollution, he points out.

“This has been a steep learning curve for everyone,” says Mr Middleton.

The need for good communications and co-ordination at sea and on land has been recognised as crucial, and the challenge now, say those actively involved in the emergency response, “is not to lose momentum, and to nurture the relationships that have developed” because of MSC Napoli.

That is Mr Middleton’s hope as, after two postponements, he prepares to retire at the end of June.