What a Mess!

[Shakey]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/22/uk.ship/index.html

Scores get goods from beached ship

LONDON, England -- Scores of people spent the night salvaging wine and motorcycles washed up on Britain's south coast as it was confirmed 200 tonnes of oil has leaked from a beached cargo ship.

Devon and Cornwall Police were meeting Monday with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and other agencies involved in the operation after the MSC Napoli was beached off the coast of Devon with 2,400 containers on board.

Goods found on the shoreline reportedly included vehicles and hundreds of barrels full of wine.

Local police officer Steve Speariett said several hundred people were swarming the pebble beach at Branscombe, helping themselves to goods washed ashore.

"A couple of hundred people have been on the beach today, taking things away, and there were around the same number last night," he told the UK's Press Association.

"Around 15 BMW motorbikes were carried off the beach last night," he said. Other products carried away were beauty cream, steering wheels and exhaust pipes.

Reuters news agency put the value of one motorcycles at $29,610.

The police force drafted in extra officers from Exeter as dozens of opportunists sought to salvage cargo that had been washed ashore, PA reported.

The Napoli was deliberately run aground near Sidmouth, east Devon, after it was damaged during a storm on Thursday.

Navy helicopters rescued the Napoli's 26 crew members in rough seas, 40 miles off Lizard Point, Cornwall on Thursday after a hole in its side flooded the engine room and stalled the ship.

The vessel was being towed to Portland when a "severe structural failure" forced the salvage teams to beach it Sunday, PA reported.

At least 200 containers went overboard, three of which are carrying dangerous materials such as battery acid and perfume.

More than 60 containers had been recovered Sunday. Police officers handed out forms issued by the MCA to people "salvaging" the goods, with a steady stream of members of the public removing items by torchlight through the night, PA said.

Gale force weather conditions hampered the salvage operation and Monday there was an eight kilometer, 200 tonne stretch of oil on the water's surface.

An operation to pump 3,500 tonnes of fuel oil from a stricken container ship was scheduled to begin Monday.

The treacle-like oil on board the 62,000-tonne Napoli will have to be heated before it can be run down lines into waiting vessels, the MCA told PA.

The operation to remove the oil from the ship, beached a mile off Sidmouth, Devon, on the area's World Heritage Jurassic coast, could take up to a week, said MCA spokesman Mark Clark.

When that is completed, barges and cranes will be brought in to offload more than 2,400 containers still on board the listing vessel.

Inspector Sean Pepper of Devon and Cornwall Police told PA: "The coastline is in a rural area so extra officers have been sent in from Exeter to maintain a presence overnight.

"Our area of concern is public safety. There are a lot of containers bobbing about and there is a real element of personal safety and making sure we don't have public order issues.

"For the legal side we are in the hands of the Shipping Act."

According to the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 it is an offence for people to remove items from a wreck if they conceal or keep possession of cargo and refuse to surrender it, Insp Pepper said.

On the forms handed out by police, individuals must declare what items they have taken and send it back to the official Receiver of Wreck, where the question of ownership will be resolved.

Defenses have been put up in the River Axe and River Brid to prevent any fuel getting into the fresh water system. The 16-year-old Napoli is registered in London and was last inspected by the Coastguard Agency in May 2005, when officials said it met safety standards.

[PocketThunder]

Holy Smokes!!  How do you get that ship to float again?  do they try and pump water out of it and drag it out to sea so that it can float on its own again?   They must have to lift it up so the deck is above sea level to prevent more water from flowing in while they pump it out.   

[Charger_Fan]

I'm surprised those containers are airtight enough to float to shore.
Man, that looks like a huge headache.

[Troy]

They grounded it on purpose so it wouldn't sink. It had huge gashes down either side. Depending on where the gashes are they may be able to float it once the cargo is offloaded I guess. The police don't seem real concerned with the looters so some of the owners of the cargo hired security. I can't wait until a looter gets burned by battery acid and sues the government, the shipping company, the container manufacturers, and the owner of the cargo. Wait, maybe that only happens here in the US?

Troy

[red72chrgr]

What if someone's Charger is in one of those containers?

[Charger_Fan]

Wait, maybe that only happens here in the US?

I believe so. If it's in some other country, the thought never enters their minds.

[ChgrSteve67]

The cars and motorcycles in those containers are stolen anyways.

[Arthu®]

The cars and motorcycles will be wrecks, after a couple of hours of even minutes in salty water all the wiring and electronics will be shot. It will cost a lot of money and headaches to clean a car or bike like that up and you will most likely never get all the problems out. Oh and don't forget the rust salty water causes after 5 years all the frames will be rotted from inside out.

Arthur

[TruckDriver]

What if someone's Charger is in one of those containers?

I thought the same thing. There could be a few muscle cars on the ship

[ChargerSG]

Saw on the news that people is stealing like hell out of those containers, but they got filmed packing up stuff on trailers and all...