08 House to House July 07

MSC NAPOLI – A DRAMA THAT WASN’T ALLOWED TO BECOME A CRISIS

his multinational crew aboard MSC Na- poli, who calmly and correctly assessed the condition of their stricken vessel after vertical cracks on either side of the hull permitted an ingress of sea water into the engine room. After alerting the rescue authorities, captain and crew successfully overcame one of a seaman’s worst chal- lenges, safely boarding and launching their lifeboat into the maelstrom.

Many crewmen have been injured or even killed in lifeboat launch rehearsals in the so- called safety of a calm dock. The despera- tion in the situation that propelled this crew to leave a large, if badly disabled, cargo ship in what has been described as the worst storm to hit Britain in almost a decade, for the uncertainties of survival in a ten-metre lifeboat, is hard for shore folk to imagine. The saga of the MSC Napoli, the 53,409 gross tons Ultimately, of course, their survival was se- that started taking on water in a cured by the courage and capability of the crewmen of the and French January storm and now lies, deliberately beached, rescue helicopters – once again the heroes in in , has provoked a stream of of the hour. Working at the limits of weather and aircraft endurance, plucking 26 souls unsettling images, emotionally-charged headlines without mishap from a small lifeboat being tossed by 40ft waves is an achievement that and thousands of column inches of reporting and should never be taken for granted. comment. What it hasn’t done, is add much to Although the stricken MSC Napoli was in the understanding of the man in the street about the French search and rescue zone, under the terms of the Anglo-French Joint Mari- the workings of the container shipping industry time Contingency Plan the UK’s Secretary of or of his near-complete dependence on it. State’s Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention (SOSREP) and the French maritime authorities made their assess- As usually seems to be the case in matters “Disaster at sea” proclaimed 2.5cm-high ments of the options open to them together. maritime, the media have missed a great headlines in even such a respectable broad- opportunity to educate the public. sheet as The Sunday Times. “The conclusion arising out of these assess- ments,” reported the UK’s Maritime and Not so long ago the had WHAT DISASTER? Coastguard Agency, or MCA, “was that the a proud maritime tradition as a builder and least environmentally risky option was to tow owner of ships and many, if not most, fami- I would rather point out and take comfort the vessel to a place of refuge in UK waters. lies would have had connections with the from the fact that all those agencies whose The south coast of England provided better sea through family members or friends in job and responsibility it is to take control of options for a place of refuge than the French maritime industries. Perversely, in an age and mitigate fast-unfolding events taking coast, where there were no suitable loca- where we now import more goods than ever place in elemental conditions have done just tions within reasonable distance.” to support our desires and needs, we have that. They have actually averted the human, largely lost that connection and are being environmental and economic consequences Not long after, while under tow, SOSREP swept along on an irrational tide of prejudice of casualties such as Prestige, Erika, Castor Captain Robin Middleton was forced to against the shipping industry. and other infamous names. confront another tough decision. With the ship’s stern now starting to settle and at risk Let us start by examining some of the myths and First up for praise, the professionalism and of sinking, he decided to beach the vessel to facts surrounding the MSC Napoli incident. seamanship of Captain Valentin Velev and minimise the amount of pollution. House to House July 07 09

Captain Middleton’s decisive action drew “Thieves,” “looters”, “police incompetence” the world’s trade and 98% of our imports howls of protest from sections of the envi- alleged the press frenzy, conveniently ignor- travel by ship. ronmental lobby. “We told them: nowhere ing the fact that much of what took place in Lyme Bay, it’s too important,” one activ- could be construed at the time as volun- The world’s container lines, of which MSC ist told The Sunday Times. Completely un- tary salvage under the Merchant Shipping is the second largest in terms of vessel ca- substantiated reports of up to 200 tons of Act 1995 and that the act of taking cargo pacity, have done an unprecedented job in leaked fuel, and the inevitable pictures of washed ashore is not, in itself, illegal. establishing a worldwide transport system seabirds started to circulate. Despite the that last year enabled over 110 million TEU accurate and impartial information being Now that the cargo owners have specifi- (twenty-foot equivalent units) to travel quickly, disseminated by the admirably open MCA cally said that they have appointed salvors reliably, economically and, overwhelmingly, news machinery, including the admission of and do not want anyone else taking items safely across the oceans and seas. They about sixty to one hundred tons of leaked from the beach, the scavengers have drifted have also expanded capacity sufficiently to fuel, some journalists seemed to apply their away. More criminally-minded opportunists accommodate annual growth rates in world own versions of what they wanted to hear. who succumb to the allure of eBay rather production in excess of 10% in each of the than reporting their finds can doubtless look last five years. Fortunately, wiser and more knowledgeable forward to a communication from HM Rev- counsels appreciate the unique position of enue and Customs. Without the investments by shipowners in Britain’s SOSREP. The International Cham- thousands of container ships, let alone the ber of Shipping declared its view that “the SO DOES OUR DISCONNECT WITH associated millions of freight containers, the damage to the environment would certainly THE MARITIME WORLD MATTER? container terminals and ancillary handling have been far greater if the decisive action of equipment, there could have been no glo- the UK authorities in beaching the ship, and I certainly think it matters and that the media balisation of our economies, no complex but the subsequent action to mitigate the pollu- should take a long hard look at themselves efficient supply chains and none of the ben- tion, had not been taken. It is also important for their attitude towards an industry that efits of cheaper and cheaper goods. to remember that there has been no loss of supplies the population with its means of seafarers’ lives.” survival, and quite a bit else besides. So that’s the container shipping industry – no pariah skulking along the sea lanes of the It unequivocally supports SOSREP’s inde- The vast majority of what we eat, what we world but a modern, vibrant success story pendent authority, noting that “such deci- wear, what we put in our homes, not to men- that plays a crucial part in all our lives and sions are made in difficult circumstances tion what we drive and use to get to work, has even learned how best to avoid a drama and, while mitigating what would be even arrives on this island by sea. Over 90% of becoming a crisis. more serious situations, they may introduce, to say the least, some obvious political sen- sitivities.”

Even the European Commission agrees, remarking in a statement that it “welcomes the effectiveness of the action taken by the UK authorities to assist the MSC Napoli, which was based on independent decisions taken following an objective analysis of the situation, making it possible to avoid a major disaster.”

Perhaps the most potent images so far to emerge from the MSC Napoli incident in- volve the removal of cargo washed ashore in or from some of the 103 cargo containers lost from the ship when she was beached, of which 56 have been positively identified on the shore and 47 are unaccounted for and are presumed sunk. Let us keep that in proportion as well – MSC Napoli was carrying 2,318 containers in total so the 47 unaccounted for represents a loss ratio of only 2%.