Bigfoot 1 departs from Rotterdam, on its way to the MSC Napoli. Source: SMIT

The British-registered Napoli, en route to South Africa, first issued a distress call at 10.30 on the morning of Thursday January 18. The ship, owned by Mediterranean Shipping Company and managed by Zodiac Maritime Agencies, had been holed during storms, 45 miles south east of Lizard Point on the south coast of England.


The deck of Bigfoot 1. Source: Smit

Initially, French and British coastguards tried to tow the ship to port in the UK, using the French tug Abeilles Bourbon escorted by the British vessel Anglian Princess. On the night of Friday 19 January, the vessel was hit again by heavy storms, causing long gashes to open up on either side of its hull. At this point, it was decided that attempting to tow the vessel to land would be too dangerous, and could lead to it breaking up at sea. Instead, the decision was taken to run the Napoli aground, and to ballast it down.

Since being beached in Lyme Bay, an operation has been launched to remove oil from the vessel, and to take off some of the 2,394 containers onboard (over 100 of which have already broken free from the wreck). The salvage contract has been awarded to a consortium of Smit International, Klyne tugs and Les Abeilles.

The first stage of the operation has been to remove oil from the stricken vessel’s fuel tanks. The lightening tanker Forth Fisher, which arrived on Tuesday 23 January, and had removed more than 1,150 tons of oil by Wednesday 24, is carrying this out. The process of removing oil has been made more difficult by the fact that the ship’s starboard tanks are under water. To tackle this, a ‘hot tap’ system will be used to penetrate the submerged tanks, without releasing oil into the water. The Forth Fisher will spend around a week working on the starboard side of the ship.


The deck of Bigfoot 1. Source: Smit

At the same time, the barge Bigfoot 1 (formerly the Sainty 3) has left Rotterdam, and is expected to arrive overnight tonight, Friday 26 January. The Bigfoot 1 will be moored in a ‘T’ pattern on the port side of the Napoli, away from the Forth Fisher, and will use its two 250t and 500t capacity cranes to remove containers. These will be placed onboard the Boa Barge 2, which will carry them to Portland. The first priority for the salvage team will be to remove containers that may be carrying chemicals, and to lighten the vessel enough to reduce stresses on its hull and prevent it from breaking up.


The deck of Bigfoot 1. Source: Smit Onboard Bigfoot. Bigfoot 1 departs from Rotterdam, on its way to the MSC Napoli. Source: SMIT Bigfoot 1