Avoid at all costs the scuttling of the MSC Napoli

As a defender of the marine environment, and in particular the English Channel, as observers of the OSPAR Convention for the protection of the North East Atlantic, the Association Robin des Bois welcomes the efforts made by the English administration to treat the MSC Napoli wreckage in the best possible way. Robin des Bois also supports the paramount decision, conforming to European directives to consider the Lyme Bay as a port of refuge by accepting the MSC Napoli on the 18th of January 2007. This courageous decision allowed the disembarking or the recuperation of 2,300 containers and the pumping of 4,000 t of oil. If the MSC Napoli had sunk in the middle of the English Channel this would have caused a serious oil spill and long term pollution problems, harmful effects and considerable difficulties for maritime security due to the drifting of the containers or their contents.

Robin des Bois also recognizes the relevant decision of English Customs aimed at checking the accuracy of the declarations concerning the contents of each container; unfortunately to the knowledge of Robin des Bois the same decision was not taken by the French Authorities concerning the containers of the Rokia Delmas which sunk between the island Ré and La Rochelle on October 24th 2006.

Concerning the MSC Napoli, Robin des Bois is asking the English and French authorities not to fall back on the option of definite immersion, if the buoyancy of the MSC Napoli is not judged acceptable for it to be tugged to a Port where it could be demolished. The wreckage still contains material and residual pollutions. The right move would rather be to impose on the ship-owner and the insurers a demolition like that of the Tricolor car carrier which sunk after its collision with a container ship off the coast of Dunkirk on the 14th of December 2002. This exemplary operation was carried out thanks to the goodwill of the Tricolor's owner and with the competence of its insurers and the French injunction of the Maritime prefect of the English Channel and the North Sea.

MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) is one of the world’s first ship-owners. If this company cannot completely guarantee the rescuing of the MSC Napoli and cannot avoid all the potential pollutions and dangers, it should give up its activities as a maritime transporter and perhaps convert into the hotel business in Austria.
Like MSC, some ship-owners today are or will be responsible for containers ships with the capacity to carry 12,000 “boxes” whereas the MSC Napoli could transport only 4,000. This race towards gigantism must be assumed and all financial and technical means must be envisaged and be made available before any shipwrecks occur.

The permanent scuttling of the MSC Napoli would furthermore contradict the Convention on the removal of wrecks which was signed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on May 2007. This convention concerns wrecks which are dangerous for maritime security and for the environment.

Right to reply to press release Avoid at all costs the scuttling of the MSC Napoli
July 13th 2007

As a result of Robin des Bois’s Press Release, Avoid at all costs the scuttling of the MSC Napoli on July 11th 2007 Mediterranean Shipping Company’s (MSC) European Head office reminded us that they are not the owners of the MSC Napoli.

Comments of Robin des Bois

Robin des Bois confirms that at the time of its shipwreck the owner of the MSC Napoli was a so called METVALE registered on The British Virgin Islands, the manager was Zodiac Maritime Agencies and the time charterer was MSC.

We therefore consider that METVALE, Zodiac Maritime Agencies and MSC could have joint responsibilities in this affair. As the breaking up of the ship was not due to an external party, we could even include Det Norske Veritas, the classification society, or the former French owner (see our previous press release Les perd-conteneurs (bis), January 19th 2007, please follow this link)

The joint responsibility concerning the management and salvage of the MSC Napoli does not change anything at the heart of the affair: are shipwrecks and the rescuing of ultra large container-ships consistent with the owners, managers, charterers and insurers financial resources and with the technical resources of salvage companies?