The beaching on the Devon coast at the weekend of the ship Napoli holed in gales off Cornwall on Friday – leading to a spectacular and dangerous rescue of the crew from a liferaft – has provided a bonanza for beach scavengers of automotive items.
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Around 105 containers have come off the ship and the 40 or so that reached the beach either split open or were forced open by hundreds of scavengers. Media reports said 15-50 brand-new BMW motorcycles had been removed from the beach along with BMW car parts such as gearboxes, steering wheels and rear windows. One report said the bikes, packed in cardboard shipping packages, and liberated from a locked container by scavengers with bolt cutters, all had keys, paperwork and some fuel in their tanks.
There have also been reports of BMW airbags salvaged from the ship being advertised as such on eBay.
BMW (GB) group corporate communications head Angela Stangroom said the ship was heading for South Africa with 77 containers (of a total of 2,394 aboard according to press reports) of car assembly kits for the automaker’s factory in Rosslyn, new motorcycles, engines and spare parts. She said the factory acted quickly to avoid disruption and that any effects would be minimal.
Stangroom said two containers lost overboard contained 39 motorcycles and noted that BMW, through its insurers, had now appointed a salvage agent. Undamaged items – most containers are still intact on the ship though some are being at least partly immersed at high tide – would probably be shipped on a new vessel later. She added that all costs arising from the incident, possibly including air freighting in any items to keep Rosslyn running, would be covered by insurers and BMW was not expecting to incur any costs as a result of the Napoli incident.
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By GlobalDataJust-auto understands some other new built-up cars including Volkswagen and Toyota models were also on the ship. Photos show a wrecked silver SUV upside-down on the beach, but its brand is not known, while another wreck also beached. Some personal effects on the ship were known to be heading from Stockholm to South Africa. Containers reportedly were loaded at Antwerp in Belgium.
British maritime law allows individuals to salvage items from wrecked ships but all must be reported to the official receiver of wrecks. After something of a free-for-all at the weekend and yesterday (other items on board included empty and full wine barrels, disposable nappies, chocolate, appliances, shoes, perfume and cosmetics all likely to show up at local markets, plus some dangerous chemicals), police have now closed beach access to let official salvagers in, though lunchtime reports said local scavengers were still sneaking through cordons.
Offshore, the beached ship, still with most of its container load in place, is having its bunker fuel oil tanks emptied as part of an effort to salvage the vessel whole before it breaks up. This is taking time as the oil has to be heated first so it can be pumped.
Graeme Roberts
