Photo: MCA

MSC NAPOLI section arrives at Harland & Wolff shipyard
Belfast site will reduce forward section over four to five months

 

The unfortunate container ship MSC NAPOLI finally made it to her resting place yesterday - or rather one half of her did.

After being moored in Belfast Lough until the shipyard was ready for her, she was tugged into the dock at Harland and Wolff on Friday and for the next four to five months she will be decontaminated and reduced to recyclable pieces for offsite processing.

Belfast based Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries, in conjunction with Golder Associates (UK) Ltd, were  awarded the contract and in a statement earlier David McVeigh, Harland and Wolff’s head of Sales and Marketing, said, “Harland and Wolff have an extensive track record in the Marine and Offshore industry, dealing with large and complex projects. The decommissioning and recycling of MSC Napoli will utilise existing methods and procedures proven over hundreds of prior projects”.

Signalling that this is an area of operations the yard is very much looking towards as a source of future work he continued,

“Owners with vessels coming to the end of their working lives generally had no alternative but to use traditional ‘beach-breaking’ methods, which come with their inherent environmental and human impact.”

“This project, arising in very different circumstances, will establish a solution for European ship recycling, as Harland and Wolff / Golder Associates offers ship and offshore structure owners large, modern facilities combined with proven operating procedures that ensure high environmental and Health & Safety standards.

He said it was "a good day for Harland & Wolff and the environment.”

Julian Jones, Golder Associates (UK) Ltd MD said, “Harland and Wolff and Golder decided several years ago to apply their joint brand and expertise to raising the standards of ship and offshore structure decommissioning and recycling. Golder Associates have an extensive track record of decommissioning, remediation and recycling projects, throughout Europe and across the world. We are working hard to progressively develop a state-of-the-art decommissioning and recycling facility for owners looking for a solution that is corporately and socially responsible”.