29/01/2007

Napoli container salvage set to resume

Salvage teams working on the cargo ship stranded on a Dorset Beach are set to resume work on recovering the containers on board the listing ship.

Efforts to remove over 2,000 containers form the beached container ship Napoli had to be halted when a mooring cable on the crane barge snapped.

Because of the vessel's list, the salvage process will be complicated. The containers must be lifted and removed in such a way to prevent the cargo or the vessel shifting further.

Around 100 containers are believed to have been lost overboard when the 62,000 tonne vessel was deliberately stranded on the beach to prevent it sinking in deeper water offshore.

Last week Branscombe Beach was closed as looters made of with the contents of the 50 containers washed ashore.

The vessel suffered serious hull damage while caught in the English Channel in the mid-January storm.

The crew were rescued from a liferaft after they abandoned ship.

(SP/KMcA)

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