BRITAIN: The urgency of removing a sunken Norwegian container ship lying with its cargo of new cars in the middle of the English Channel was underscored yesterday when it was hit by a second ship within 48 hours of sinking.
The Nicola, a Dutch Antilles-registered ship bound for Rotterdam, was moving north through the channel at around 2:00 a.m when it crashed into the Norwegian car-carrier the Tricolor, which has been lying in 30 metres of water since early Saturday.
Tugboats despatched to the scene were able to pull the Nicola clear at first light and it appeared to have suffered no serious damage, but the accident was an unexpectedly rapid reminder of the hazard to shipping in the world's busiest sea-lane.
More than 400 vessels, many carrying dangerous substances, pass through the 30km-wide strait every day.
The Tricolor, a 50,000-tonne Norwegian car-carrier, keeled over after being hit by another ship, the Kariba, in thick fog in the early hours of Saturday, and so far bad weather has hampered attempts to survey the wreck and unload its 2,000 tonnes of fuel.
"We are hostages to the weather. We can't send divers down to inspect the wreck in current conditions," Per Roennevig, spokesman for owners Wilhelmsen Lines, said yesterday.
French coast guards said the wreck of the Tricolor, which breaks the surface of the water at low tide, was clearly marked with a beacon on its southern approach and two patrol boats on the other side. In addition, radio messages were broadcast every half hour on all shipping frequencies.
"[The Nicola] must have heard our alert message four times. Maybe there was a navigational error, causing it to drift slightly - that would explain why it didn't spot the beacon which should have been in its way," said Mr Philippe Bacquet, director of the French coast guard authority in the channel. The Nicola was carrying more than 2,800 BMWs, Saabs and Volvos with a value of around €30 million, but a spokesman for Wilhelmsen Lines said the vehicles were almost certainly all write-offs. A crew from a Dutch salvage company was standing by at the scene. After pumping off the ship's fuel, the task is to assess in what conditions, and with what equipment, the Tricolor can be resurfaced.
- (AFP)