MSC Napoli
The Early Days:
On 18 January 2007 the MSC Napoli, a Panamax container vessel built in 1991, was headed west in the English Channel en route to South Africa. In a force ten storm the vessel experienced structural failure leading the Captain to order the crew to abandon ship.
The UK and French coastguards responded and the crew was lifted from a life raft by a UK search and rescue crew who reported waves of forty feet above the underlying swell.
At the same time two French and one UK registered tugs were dispatched to the Napoli. A French tug, the Abeiles Liberte was first at the scene. At this time the vessel, its hull damaged, was subject to pitch, yaw and hogging and in the face of the prevailing storm was facing north.
A line was secured to the vessel and an assessment crew from the Abeiles Liberte boarded the vessel in gale force wind and sea conditions. A second French tug, the Abeiles Bourbon also attached a towing line.
The risks in staying in the path of the storm included the Napoli breaking up and losing containers. The wreckage of the vessel and its containers would have risked collisions with tanker, cargo and passenger vessels using the channel, endangering life and the environment. To reduce these risks the vessel had to be towed away from the prevailing storm, to the east and into shallower, calmer, sheltered waters en route to its intended destination at Portland.
The decision was taken by SOSRep (Secretary Of States Representative) to tow the vessel to a refuge and to examine its condition in calm seas and in daylight. This led to the vessel being held in Lyme Bay.
From these earliest stages, and throughout the operation, all parties involved have had continual formal and informal communication and discussions coordinating and managing recovery and counter pollution strategies.
Lyme Bay:
A daylight examination revealed the catastrophic structural failure that could be seen in the beached vessel.
This inspection revealed damage that was more severe than had at first been thought. At this time it was clear that an attempt to have moved the vessel further or to have risked exposure to the prevailing storm would have had disastrous consequences.
The Napoli carried light, medium and heavy fuel oils, a total amount of about 4,000 tons (4,000 cubic meters) and some 2,300 containers.
To date all but nine containers have been located and dealt with. The nine missing containers do not contain any hazardous materials or cargo.
Operations to remove oil from the vessel were conducted and some 3,800 tons of oil was successfully pumped out and secured. The total spillage was about 200 tons (200 cubic meters). To put this in context, the Sea Empress in Milford Haven in 1996 spilled 72,000 tons (72,000 cubic meters) of oil. In Milford Haven the environment was fully recovered within eighteen months. To see a table of spills use this link.
The responses to all pollution and the recovery of containers, container parts and their contents, oil spills offshore and onshore following protocols established between all interested parties. These protocols incorporate the use of booms, absorbents, heavy plant, manual labour and dispersants wherever beneficial.
The ship's owners undertook to manage and pay for the on and off shore recovery and clear up operations. This has included, from the time of the vessel's arrival, onshore contractors, salvers and off shore contractors, divers, aerial, surface and shore surveillance, of the Napoli and Lyme Bay. Divers continue to identify and clear container parts and cargo from the sea bed, from the deeper waters in the bay to the tide line.
You may observe RIBS, service boats and landing craft operating along the coastline. These vessels are working and we would advise that boating enthusiasts keep well clear. The onshore contractor is using heavy plant, manual labour, an ATV, four wheel drive vehicles and an inflatable in their endeavours to monitor and to react to oil threatening the local beaches. Please remember that these contractors are not responsible for the pollution, their aim is to reduce environmental damage as much as possible.
On and Offshore oil spills are attended to under protocols agreed between all interested parties. These protocols exclude the use of chemical dispersants on shore and focus on environmentally accepted methods including the use of inert absorbents and physical waste and oil removal. They also recognize the role and capacity of the natural environment to disperse oil pollution.
Dispersants use is strictly controlled and their use onshore is prohibited.
Information boards at local beaches give detailed information on the current situation and are maintained by the onshore contractors. If you are affected by oil on your skin, hair, or if a pet is affected, the oil is best removed by the use of baby or cooking oil followed by washing with normal soap.
Any sightings of oil should be reported via telephone to East Devon District Council on 01395 571700 who will pass the details onto the contractors. Please exercise care in reporting oil sightings and do so promptly. Well intentioned but outdated and inaccurate information has led to delays in identifying and responding to spills on local beaches.
The Future:
The bow section of the Napoli has been removed to Belfast for recycling and the stern section will now be made safe and removed for recycling.
The total spill of two hundred tons is comparatively small. (In Milford haven in 1996 the Sea Empress spill of about 72,000 tons was cleared up, largely by natural sea action, within eighteen months).
It is likely that small amounts of oil will continue to come ashore or be released from shingle banks above and below the tide line over the coming months. Whilst every reasonable endeavour is made to contain oil and to prevent further leakage this cannot be guaranteed.
Glossary of Terms
Panamax
A Panamax vessel is designed to be able to pass through the Panama Canal. These vessels can therefore traverse the globe using less fuel and shorter routes than non Panamax vessels. They tend to be more streamlined than non Panamax vessels.
Pitch Yaw and Hogging
Pitch is the rocking motion along a vessels length, yaw is the lateral motion and hogging occurs as a vessel flexes along its length. In the case of the Napoli the hogging threatened to tear the vessel in half as it was caused by the split around the hull that was visible on the beached vessel above the waterline on each side, in front of the deck superstructure.
Intended Destination
Access to a French port meant remaining exposed to the prevailing storm and towing the vessel over deeper waters. Other mainland European ports carried the same risks and if the vessel was lost the effects of floating and submerged containers as a shipping hazard, the risk posed by the vessel itself and the uncontrolled release of oil over a long period of time would create unjustifiable risks.
A suitable port needed to be deep enough to allow the Napoli to enter, have the capacity to support the infrastructure needed to manage the removal of containers and to cope should the vessel founder en route. This disqualified smaller ports en route and ports engaged in trade and or military activities whose use might be compromised by attempts to berth the vessel.
Portland was the closest port that met the requirements. In fact once the scale of the damage to the Napoli was apparent in Lyme Bay it was clear that the risk of losing the vessel had been extremely high.
SOSREP
Lord Donnelson's report after the 1996 oil spill in Milford Haven, recommended the establishment of a post "Secretary of States Representative"an individual who could act without political interference, on the best technical information, to deal with potential pollution and pollution issues arising from shipping. SOSREP took charge of the Napoli situation, after consultation with the French Coastguard, in the first hours after the original incident.
Light, medium and heavy fuel oils
Light oils, similar in density to diesel fuel form a thin sheen on water, visible as rainbow patterns. These oils spread thinly, usually to as little as one molecule in thickness and evaporate into the air, when evaporating the odour is easily detectable.
Medium fuel oils are liquid or gel like at room temperature and forms slicks when spilled in significant quantities. The slicks thickness and viscosity are affected by the air and water temperatures.
Heavy oils have to be heated to remain liquid in the fuel tanks and in water from thick, highly viscous balls or pancakes.
Table of significant oil spills
| Vessel | Year | Location | Oil Spilled |
| Torrey Canyon | 1967 | Isles of Scilly | 119,000 |
| Amoco Cadiz | 1978 | Brittany | 220,000 |
| Atlantic Empress | 1979 | Off Tobago | 287,000 |
| Castillo de Bellver | 1983 | South Africa | 252,000 |
| Exxon Valdez | 1989 | Prince William Sound | 37,000 |
| ABT Summer | 1991 | 700 miles off Angola | 260,000 |
| Braer | 1993 | Shetland Isles | 85,000 |
| Sea Empress | 1996 | Milford Haven | 72,000 |
MSC Napoli's loss has been of two hundred tons.
Oil spills on and off shore
Offshore oils spillage. Whilst unattractive and damaging to local flora and fauna, oils are natural substances and nature is able to deal with large quantities of spilled oil with little help from human agents.
Booms
Booms can be used to reduce the likelihood of oil entering estuaries or vulnerable areas. The highest risks are at high tides especially if exacerbated by onshore winds or when leisure craft users over ride booms entering or leaving moorings.
Oils can be contained within booms and can removed by skimming, pumping out oil and water. Either option creates a high volume of contaminated waste that has to be disposed of.
Dispersants
Dispersants carry risks to marine environments. To be used they must, when mixed with the oils, be less damaging to the environment than the oils alone. To be used there must be a significant slick onto which the dispersant can be sprayed by boat or aircraft. The dispersant then needs to be agitated into the oil, usually using boats repeatedly driven through the dispersant/slick mix. The licensing of dispersants is strictly controlled and this includes a sufficient depth of water for the dispersed oil to be agitated in. Usually 15 meters, although a special exemption was obtained for the Napoli reducing this depth to 13 meters.
As the oil is broken up into smaller and smaller globules the dispersant coats the oil and stops visible slicks reforming. The oil remains in the local marine environment until it is diluted in the sea by wave, wind and tidal action. Because we can see slicks easily we assume that once the oil slick cannot be seen the oil is no longer a problem.
The use of chemical dispersant is never an exact science and in any slick excess dispersant or oil will be left in the marine environment. Dispersants are best used to break up very large slicks in deeper waters.
Absorbents
Absorbents can be used to trap oil. They are expensive and have to be applied manually. Absorbents lift a tiny weight of oil and this creates a high volume of contaminated waste that has to be contained and removed for safe disposal.
Protocols
Protocols are courses of action agreed between all interested parties as representing the best courses of action to protect the local environment.
All interested parties
Devon County council, East Devon District Council, the National Trust, MCA, Environment Agency, Devon and Cornwall Police, Natural England, Devon and Dorset Environment Groups, ITOPF (International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation), Marine Biologists, ship's owners' representatives, RSPB and RSPCA.
Natural Environment
The sea can, through natural actions, clear considerable amounts of oil, in many cases more effectively and with less damage to the environment that can human agency. Wave action and a process known as flocculation occurs and particles of silica and calciferous minerals in sediment and suspended in the water abrade oil from beaches and rocks, forming a flocculate or clay. These clays are dispersed in the sediment beds where, in the case of massive oil spills, their future concentrations can be measured and their dispersal monitored.
Surf washing involves flocculation and the breaking of oil patches by wave and tidal action.
Much wildlife will cope with oil pollution, crabs for example if left will avoid consuming oil and can shed an oiled shell.
Where counter pollution work will assist in protecting the environment and local wildlife the necessary work is prioritised and undertaken. ITOPF Marine Biologists, the RSPCA and PSPB are consulted and used whenever necessary.
