MSC Napoli Sinking

[rgr004]

CMA CGM Normandie ran aground on 27th March 2001 in the Malacca strait. The cause was human mistake while overtaking another vessel. She ran aground at 21 knots and was very close to be declared a total loss.
Repairs included a lot of double bottom renewal. She has been carrying a lot of containers since and is classed by a leading classification society. This ship is obviously "unlucky".

[weta]

Thank you for answering my question.

[maz_atenza]

CMA-CGM Normandie
   
 
In short
Name: CMA-CGM Normandie
Date: 27 March 2001
Location: Singapore
   
Accident area: strait of Malacca, with 6 miles from Singapour
Ship type: container carrier
Flag: French
Reason for spill: grounding
Last update: April 2006



On 27 March 2001, the container carrier the CMA-CGM Normandie was travelling from Malaysia to Indonesia at 22 knots, with a cargo of 3,312 containers (31,364 tonnes) onboard, when she hit a coral reef in the Strait of Malacca, 6 miles from Singapore. Ballast plating and roofs were torn. Two holds were completely flooded. The stern of the ship faced water leaks through cable channels, particularly in the machine compartment.

The cause of the accident lies essentially on the fact the CMA-CGM Normandie strayed from its path to the right-hand side of the channel to pass slower ships. The Singaporean maritime control centre tried for nearly two hours to make contact with the ship, in order to indicate it was heading in the wrong direction. The two French officers, including the commanding officer, were on the bridge, and therefore did not hear the call.

The ship was not refloated until 22 April, more than 60 days after the accident. Fortunately, there was no noticeable pollution. For more details about the accident, see

[maz_atenza]

The 62277 DWT MSC NAPOLI (IMO 9000601) The MSC
NAPOLI is built in 1992 at the Samsung yard in South Korea under yard number 1082 as the CGM NORMANDIE,
renamed during 1995 in NEDLLOYD NORMANDIE until 2001 when she was renamed again in CMA CGM
NORMANDIE until November 2004 when she was renamed in MSC NAPOLI, the vessel measures a length of 275
mtr and a width of 37.1 mtr, the registered owner at present is Societe Anonyme Monegasque d'Administration
Maritime et Aerienne (SAMAMA) in Monaco and the vessel is flying the British flag.

[maz_atenza]

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070121/photos_wl/2007_01_21t120823_450x299_uk_britain_ship

multiple 4 and 5 high stack on the beach ....

[Tim Twichell]

Smit is on the way. They will deal with her just fine. If they can't nobody can. My guess is that she will be salved and removed in a timely manner... Lets just wait and see.


Smit to salvage stranded ship Napoli
Monday 22 January 2007

Rotterdam-based marine services group Smit is to salvage the container ship MSC Napoli which got into trouble during Thursday's storm and is now stuck on a sandbank off the English coast. A spokeswoman declined to give details on Sunday but told ANP a Smit vessel was on its way to the Napoli for the towage operation.

The MSC Napoli suffered structural damage during Thursday's storms and was beached on a sandbank to stop it sinking in deep water. It is thought that up to 200 tonnes of oil may have leaked from a fuel tank. Efforts are now underway to keep the oil from reaching the shore. Some 150 of the 2,400 containers the Napoli was carrying have gone overboard

The BBC reported that that the ship had previously ran aground

[Richard Matterson]

Ah... why spoil a good story with the truth, television news here in Australia just reported on a mammoth oil spill leaking from a tanker packed with hazardous chemicals that had run aground in the channel - at least the pictures where of the MSC Napoli.

[Aleksi Lindström]

Matt, the same phenomenon here, one paper told she is a tanker and is carrying a cargo of oil and so on and of course the press is all mad about the hazardous cargo, which a crew member was just a normal cargo on a container ship... the press, the press! Battery acid isn't a problem when it mixes with sea water.

Brgds,
Aleksi

[Adrian Buchan]

It will be interesting to see how Smit's are going to tow away this vessel without the stern falling off. They are going to need a long period of fine weather to get the fuel and cargo off so that they can tow it away. If the South and SW. gales return she won't last long were she is now.
 A fisherman tells me this morning that there are many containers floating around in Lyme Bay and they are concerned about how many are sunk on the seabed in what is a prime fishing ground.
There is also another worry, Brixham is a pilot station for embarking and disembarking North Sea pilots, we have fast container ships arriving here constantly to pick up and drop pilots, the possibility of containers floating just below the surface is obviously going to be a hazard to them at night.

[Kelvin Davies]

When I was down at Branscombe yesterday morning, I could see a couple of containers a few hundred yards off the shore with about 2 feet showing above the water.
As the reports are all saying about 200 broke free and I could see about 20 on shore at Branscombe, there must be a nightmare below the water in that area with containers all at different levels.
I am waiting to see what they will do to remove or recover the stuff on the beach as it is going to be extremely difficult to get a big wagon and lifting gear down those little lanes.

[TREBOATS]

Very early images taken on the first day during the helicopter rescue and on display at the following web site

http://www.premar-atlantique.gouv.fr/galeries

Is a photo down port side which shows that the hull is already out of aline sagging aft of the accomodation structure. How come it took so long for the rest of the world to wake up to this? A Salvage surveyor friend in South Africa mentioned on the afternoon of the incident that she looked ready for "the big break". On same web site is another photo showing empty port side davits and there is a clear mark in line with bridge front. Later shown to one of the fracture points.

The bulk of her fuel oil is in the wing tanks and not thought to be leaking at present.

MSC Napoli's previous grounding


Stranded on Helen Mar Reef, in lat. 01 07.12N., long. 103 46.36E. on 27/3/01. Refloated 22/4/01 and towed to Tanjung Pelapas. Drydocked at Singapore for inspection. Towed into shipyard at Nha Trang 6/6/01 for repairs. Sailed 22/10/01.

Vessel grounded at full speed causing severe damage to bow area, forepeak and forward ballast tanks were breached and duct keel totally flooded. Five holds were damaged. Part of the cargo of containers was unloaded onto barges prior to refloating and bunkers were removed. Further containers were unloaded at Tanjung Pelapas and the remainder at Singapore. Repairs at the Hyundai Vinashin Shipyard in Vietnam involved some 3,000 tonnes of steel renewal. This was MSC Napoli's previous grounding when named CMA CGM Normandie.

So that was no small incident. Her Management company dont have too good a reputation I hear.

[maz_atenza]

From lloydslist.com

Containers

Voice of authority
Monday 22 January 2007

IN A maritime emergency, decision-making is paramount, while some leadership doesn

[irrelevant]

Theres no way that the ship would lose whole Deck stacks like that if the twistlocks and the lashing bars are properly done.

I personally think that the base lock on the hatch cover were not lock properly and most probably the lashing done wrong as well.

Reports today are stating that the vessel lost already more than 150 units!!! unbelievable !!!

It looks like these containers have come loose from the starboard quarter, where the sea is breaking over the weather deck. There are a couple of pics among the many linked above that show this quite clearly. The bottom layer or two of cans would be underwater part of the time, and their bouyancy together with the force of the breaking seas would gradually weaken and eventually cause to fail the connections holding them to the ship. This is not cans popping off one or two at a time, this is whole stacks of them ripping loose together.

[Ship's Cat]

There are oiled birds beginning to show up along the Devon and Dorset coasts now. The latest can be found on the Portland Bird Observatory's website: http://www.portlandbirdobs.btinternet.co.uk/aa_latestnews.htm

Ok, not all of it is from MSC Napoli, some oiled birds were reported a few days before, presumably from some unscrupulous halfwit washing his tanks at sea, but it is not too presumptious to think that a significant number of these birds are victims of the MSC Napoli accident.

[Chris Allport]

What an excellent editoial from Lloyds List (perhaps a few other coastal administrationsw will take note), however I am surprised at them for not first checking both Zodiac Maritime and MSC websites before publishing their comments. Even if rather concise, Zodiac issued press releases on both 18th and 21st echoing their action and concerns - which one would expect from from a well managed and quality operator. Needless to say that MSC was silent.