Napoli: Final farewell
8-7-2009
AFTER more than two years in its watery grave the last remaining section of
the MSC Napoli has finally been raised. Following several hitches, the operation to lift the
stern of the container ship was successfully completed on Wednesday. The wreck is now suspended, supported by lifting chains and locked in place. It is now being cut up and once complete, the salvors will deliver the stern and all of the scrap to a recycling plant at Gravendeel in the Netherlands.
A temporary exclusion zone of 500 metres around the wreck remains in place.
Hugh Shaw, Secretary of States Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention, said: “I am encouraged to see the final cutting phase of this project now underway and before I sign off this project an underwater inspection and sea bed survey will be made before the project completion begins.”
The Napoli was deliberately beached off the coast of Branscombe in January 2007 after its hull was damaged in a storm in the English Channel.
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