Another MSC Napoli?

Cornishman

Cornishman

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Just heard that a 42,700 tons container ship has run aground in the Straits of Dover.




Long convoys of 4WDs with Cornish registration numbers seen heading east.
 
We Somerset people got a head start on you emmets...


It seems the MCA has learned from Napoli. They are putting in exclusion zones PDQ.
 
They'll be dissapointed when they realise that its just off the Kent coast......

By the time they get there, not only will the citizens of Ramsgate have emptied the ship while its still in location (none of this daft running aground and putting its contents on the beach rubbish), but they'll have eBayed it all, received the cash, spent it on drugs and gone to Cornwall and Somerset, which seems strangely empty, to manage a little burglary to get their finances sorted out.....
 
[ QUOTE ]
We Somerset people got a head start on you emmets...


It seems the MCA has learned from Napoli. They are putting in exclusion zones PDQ.

[/ QUOTE ]

I suspect thats a shipping issue.... its on the Varne bank... while I know that looters are keen, even they might be put off by the ship being in the middle of the Dover Straits, at least 5nm from the nearest dry land... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Probably the OOW is an old Thames barge owner. Stuck it there deliberately to catch the next tide.

Tenders Invited:
Modern shipping company seeks paint and coatings submission for 92000 tonne container ship antifouling. Only scraped along bottom, must be cheap.


Vacancy:
Large Shipping Company seeking Senior Officers for immediate hire on modern container ship. Must have East Coast experience.
 
Oops - the 42,700 tons refers to the cargo.

MCA tug Anglian Monarch at the scene assessing the situation. Probably spending the next few hours writing a risk assesment before actually doing anything.
 
Excuse my ignorance of Channel sailing, but I thought that the Varne Bank was well known, and even marked on charts.
So just how did a modern ship, doubtless fitted with all the modern navigation aids end up on it. (or did it just jump out in front of them?)
 
Its a well known East Coast phenomenon that banks shift tide by tide. Its been the bar talk in East Coast YCs and taverns for centuries. Go aground, get off, go to the bar and claim the latest shift. Great game. Go to the Deben bar, they even play pin the tail on the donkey with their bank at the entrance.
 
It went aground at 5 am at about HW (5.38 m). HW this evening is due to be lower(5.28 m) so will be difficult to get her off.
The Varne is right in the middle of the shipping lane of the Dover Straits TSS. The bouyage round the Varne is confusing with the direction of buoyage in the opposite direction to the shipping direction. A good case for East and West cardinals rather than red / green. No excuse though.
 
Of course, wrecking, that is, scouring the shore for unconsidered trifles, is an important activity for coastal dwellers. Doesn't seem to matter how early you get to a beach, there will be footprints across it. Second wrecking, picking up stuff that someone has already stashed above HW, is very much beyond the pale.

A few years ago we had the mixed contents of some containers coming ashore. For some reason, only parts of Leggo models, but they still turned up in carboots: it's free and it's irresistable. You should have seen the rush when the rumour of whisky bottles on Praa Sands went round.
Red plastic wheelbarrow wheels, complete with tyres, were popular, and a friend of mine found himself up to the waist in water on a lonely beach at 6 in the morning because he'd seen one round the corner. I was carrying one up the cliffpath and bumped into some hikers: as they passed one of them turned:
"Excuse me, why are you carrying a wheelbarrow wheel?"
I had to think fast:
"It's Tuesday, isn't it?"
I picked up Maranti out at sea and made five georgian windows from it, ceiling joists are douglas fir from the sea (what a waste!).
The ladies on Scilly collected clothing from the Sita, cleaned it and sent it to orphan charities in Rumania.
I think tales of luring ships ashore are exaggerated, but once a ship had come ashore and the crew rescued it would be fair game. I showed a picture of a ship grounded near here to an old fisherman. He examined it closely and identified a figure on the deck as himself, as he said, 'taking off the cargo', and in living memory there was a great unprecedented digging of gardens when a bit of liquid refreshment turned up. Happy days!
 
"its on the Varne bank"

Press Release from Vergin' oan ra ridiculous bank rescues Inc: "A major rescue is underway of another British bank which will get underway just as soon as the engineering work delaying Mr Branson's train somewhere on the West Coast is completed .."

does seem fortunate that it goes aground at high water on a neap .. got .. oohhh .. six to 7 days to get her off?!
 
I have been watching the situation unfold during this morning.

A Coastguard Tug has been alongside all morning and now other tugs are arriving as I write (Multratug 7) from The Netherlands.

A dredger hopper (Arco Dijk) is also in the vacinity (as at 1355UTC)?

Watch it all unfold 'live' at:

http://www.aisliverpool.co.uk/currentmap.php?refresh=2&count=34&map=folkstone

Dont forget to tick the 'REFRESH' box on the left side and set to 2 minutes.
 
A ship of that size has plenty of ways of reducing her draught enough to float clear, she'll probably be off next high water (or have I just jinxed it?! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif )
 
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