Container Ship

[Trigirl]

Elsewhere on the forum the damage to and subsequent salvage operation on the container ship MSC Napoli was mentioned. Not wanting to worry anyone I'll say first this ship was NOT BOUND FOR AUS/NZ but was on its way to the Canaries then South Africa.

However, I wonder if anyone else whose container hasn't yet arrived views these images (from the BBC website) with the same level of horror I did!

[Pip]

You must have read my mind! With the shippers due four weeks today, those images were a little disconcerting...especially when I heard on the radio, that some people were heading down to where containers had washed ashore and were breaking into them and ransacking the contents.

Just really hoping that it was all commercial stuff and not a lifetime of someones prized and loved possessions..

[Mr TW]

Its worth noting that the containers wouldn't be watertight enough to hold out water whilst floating to a beach! Anything in there would be beyond it anyway from a household contents perspective.

[The Hodges]

The article is on the BBC News website and the vessel is reported to contain 2,323 containers, 158 of which are classed as having potentially hazardous contents. Of the 200 that have gone overboard, one contained battery acid and perfumes, and one small gas bottles for car airbags. Others housed a variety of goods including BMW motorbikes and car parts.

As Pip says, I hope that they are not people's prized possessions (hopefully not judging by the article), I just hope that the salvagers know what they are doing.

I wonder if they had mould and mildew cover?

[Moorf]

Ewww, it's awful - watching BBC News and they're showing people scavenging on the beach and taking away stuff like motorcycles, wine and furniture that's washed up (the beach is LITTERED!) - why isn't anyone stopping them nicking all the stuff?

[ezza]

I notice that a car was inside one of the containers. Presumably privately-owned and of high value to the owner! Think that beach combers are now being threatened with legal action if they do take stuff. Fortunately this sort of thing doesn't happen too often but I can imagine how awful it would be if you thought your belongings were there.

[Mr TW]

Ewww, it's awful - watching BBC News and they're showing people scavenging on the beach and taking away stuff like motorcycles, wine and furniture that's washed up (the beach is LITTERED!) - why isn't anyone stopping them nicking all the stuff?

Its not nicking nor is it looting. As long as what you take is declared you can "salvage" what you like under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

Unfortuntely the BBC and other media are fond of using inaccurate terminology to describe things. The most common that gets my goat is "mini tornado".

[Dave in NZ]

It would be very interesting to know as regards insurance.A lot of people will only insure their more valuable stuff. I know something like this rarely happens but it makes you wonder whether to insure the lot. In this type of case all the non valuable stuff would soon add up.

Dave and Caroline

[StevieD]

The thing about these modern ships is that the containers travel down on rails, so if you are unlucky and your "box" is a deck cargo, there is a fair old chance it can be lost.

It is amazing how many times we nearly hit floating containers and whole tree trunks when travelling at sea. Just one of those things unfortunately, the sea is an almighty force, as we have seen only too well in these last couple of years.

Shades of the film Whisky Galore

[UK Neil]

Unfortunately there are plenty of personal items washed up as you can see from these pics:

Just hope they were insured so they can at least replace the replaceable bits. Must be gutting to loose all the personal bits though.

Legally its salvage if its reasonable to think that goods will be further damaged by leaving them in situ by incoming and outgoing tides so the police are not trying to stop people taking stuff.





Here are some more:
http://www.ianpain.co.uk/spgm/index....gmGal=napoli#?