Monday 05 February 2007

From MSC Napoli Response Centre

SEAWARD

The weather forecast until Thursday is good.   The salvage team is confident that they will be able to continue work if the weather deteriorates while it is safe to do so.

3,500 tonnes of fuel have now been removed from the starboard and port-side tanks.  There remains approximately 600 tonnes in the service and settling tanks, which have been prepared for discharge.  Heavy oil from the flooded engine room is being skimmed very effectively.

The vessel is settling on the seabed and is taking on more water due to the spring tide.   This has slowed down work to pump the engine space of oil.

Chemists from the Environment Agency and the salvage team are sampling water in hull to monitor any levels of pollutant.

The shuttle barge arrived back on site on Friday.  The crane barge Big Foot had continued to unload containers onto its deck to be transferred to the shuttle barge on arrival.  That work is progressing well.  The shuttle barge ran another journey to Portland at the weekend and will be returning back to station today.

All the containers from the stern of the ship - the area which the authorities had been most concerned about - are now off.  This significantly reduces the chance of further containers washing overboard if sea conditions deteriorate.  Big Foot has now been repositioned alongside the Napoli to remove cargo from the deck forward of the accommodation block.

In response to a question about the likelihood of fire on board the vessel, HM Coastguard have confirmed that the risk of fire is virtually zero.  The salvage team have 30 trained offshore fire fighters among them, and they are fully equipped to cope with a fire situation if it were to happen.  The vessels currently being used by the salvage team are also fully equiped for fire fighting duties.

A sheen of light oil remains around the vessel and some minor pollution has been seen off Beer Head.  This is not seen as environmentally significant as it is expected that the sheen will break up and evaporate naturally.

Portable booms remain on standby to be deployed if necessary.

The exclusion zone around the vessel (including air) is still being enforced.  Surveillance aircraft are flying reconnaisance each day.

The Sonar vessels have located approximately four submerged targets so far.

ONSHORE

Over half of the 50 containers currently at Branscombe have been broken up within the secure compound for removal.

Depending upon the location of submerged containers, these, or those in the proximity of Branscombe will be floated to take to Branscombe for breaking up and removal.

A secure reception area at the Donkey Sanctuary near Branscombe is open for people to return goods removed from the beach.  Some returns have been made, including some personal items.