The Final Curtain: How the MSC Napoli Was Raised from the Depths

LIME BAY, ENGLAND —
When the last piece of the MSC Napoli was hoisted from the seabed at Branscombe this afternoon, a cheer went up from the cliff tops. For nearly two years, residents of East Devon had looked out at the rusting remains of the container ship, half-buried in the seabed like a wounded giant, a reminder of one of the UK’s most challenging maritime salvage operations in recent history.

Today, under a grey English sky, that chapter closed. The barge deck resembled a floating scrapyard, with massive sections of steel stacked like Lego bricks awaiting shipment to Rotterdam. For the salvors, the sight was not just one of closure, but of triumph over nature, engineering challenges, and time itself.

The Day the Napoli Grounded

On January 20, 2007, during a violent winter storm, the Napoli ran into trouble in the English Channel. The 62,000-ton container ship, carrying over 2,300 containers, was taking on water and at risk of breaking apart. Salvors made a desperate decision: run her aground deliberately in Lyme Bay, near Branscombe, to prevent her from sinking in deeper waters.

That act saved the ship from being lost entirely — and gave salvage crews a fighting chance — but it created a massive and highly visible problem. Residents of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, suddenly found themselves living next to an environmental hazard. Oil spills threatened the shoreline, debris from lost containers washed up on beaches, and crowds of scavengers descended to collect whatever goods the sea returned.

From that moment, the Napoli became not just a stranded ship but a national story.

The First Battle: Clearing the Decks

In the months that followed, an extraordinary logistical effort began. More than 2,300 containers had to be removed before salvors could even think about moving the ship. This operation turned Branscombe Beach into a theatre of heavy machinery: floating cranes, helicopters, and barges worked day and night.

One by one, containers were lifted from the Napoli’s deck and holds. Many were crushed, twisted, or partially flooded. Others contained hazardous materials that required specialist teams in protective suits.

By the time the last container was removed, the Napoli’s silhouette had changed dramatically. She was stripped bare, her decks cleared and her holds empty. It was now possible to focus on the most difficult task — removing the ship itself.

The Stern Problem

The first attempt was to cut away and tow the forward section to be scrapped. This was done with success, but at a cost: the process caused the stern section to settle deeper into Lyme Bay’s heavy clay seabed. What had once been partially above water now disappeared almost completely beneath the waves.

This new challenge became the central problem of the entire salvage effort.

“It was like trying to lift a cathedral out of wet cement,” explained Class Reinhardt, salvage director at GR Maritime, the Dutch firm contracted to remove the wreck.

At this point, many believed the stern would be left where it was, to slowly decay on the seabed. But Reinhardt and his colleague Palum had other ideas. They developed a bold plan: thread twelve massive chains under the wreck, lift it in a cradle, and cut it apart piece by piece above the waterline.

The Chain Gambit

Executing this plan would require precision, patience, and enormous physical force.

The first step was to drill twelve tunnels beneath the wreck. Using a specialized drilling rig inside a pressurized underwater habitat, divers worked in near-zero visibility, guided only by streams of air bubbles. Each tunnel had to be perfectly parallel to the next, or the entire lifting plan could fail.

Once the tunnels were drilled, a reamer was used to widen them, and then the massive chains — each weighing several tons — were threaded through.

On the surface, two barges were positioned, one on each side of the Napoli, and fitted with twelve chain-pulling machines per barge. Each machine was capable of pulling 250 tons with pinpoint accuracy. The setup was a masterpiece of engineering, but the sea had one more card to play.

The Night of the Broken Chains

On the first attempt to lift, alarms sounded in the dead of night. The forces on the chains suddenly spiked into the red. Salvors rushed to the deck, but before they could act, several chains snapped under the load, sending dangerous whiplash sprays into the air and forcing an immediate shutdown.

The seabed’s clay was far stickier than expected, effectively gluing the stern to the bottom.

“Those were the longest hours of my career,” said Reinhardt. “We thought we might have lost the wreck entirely.”

Rather than give up, the team adapted. They spent weeks working the chain tunnels back and forth with sacrificial chains fitted with steel teeth to loosen the clay. They also removed other major components — the propeller, the rudder — to lighten the load.

When new, stronger chains arrived from Norway, hope was restored. But disaster struck again when three of the brand-new chains snapped at only 140 tons of load — well below their rated strength.

“Each failure set us back weeks,” said Palum. “But we learned with every attempt. The Napoli was teaching us what she needed.”

Victory, Piece by Piece

Finally, on a calm morning, the chain pullers began again. Slowly, meter by meter, the Napoli’s stern began to move. Vibrations shook the barges as the wreck finally broke free of the seabed’s grip.

The first rusty sections appeared above the water, and a new phase of the operation began: the “cut-and-lift.” Salvors sliced the wreck into smaller pieces using hydraulic cutters and cutting torches. Each section was hoisted aboard the barges, reduced to manageable scrap, and stored for transport.

Even after a year underwater, some sections of the wreck still held pockets of fuel and air. Fires occasionally broke out from cutting sparks, but crews were trained firefighters and quickly extinguished them.

This painstaking process — lift, inspect, cut, scrap, repeat — went on for months. Lyme Bay is a world heritage site, so even the smallest debris had to be cleared. Divers combed the seabed, retrieving bolts, wires, and shards of metal.

By midsummer, only the final section of the Napoli remained.

The Last Day

On July 31, under the gaze of journalists, residents, and curious onlookers, the last piece of the MSC Napoli was lifted from the seabed.

“It’s over,” Reinhardt said quietly on the barge deck, visibly relieved. “We kept our promise.”

By Sunday, the first barge left for Rotterdam, carrying the final scrap to be melted down. By Thursday, all salvage equipment was gone, and for the first time in over eighteen months, the view from the Branscombe cliffs was free of industrial machinery.

For the salvors, it was not just another job completed — it was a victory over an adversary that had fought them every step of the way.

Aftermath and Reflection

The Napoli salvage cost an estimated £100–150 million, but to many, the operation was not about money. It was about restoring a coastline, preventing a long-term environmental disaster, and closing a painful chapter for a community.

Residents of Branscombe now look out over a sea that once again appears empty — but they will never forget the time when a giant lay stranded just offshore.

“The Napoli was part of our lives for so long,” said one villager. “It’s strange not to see her anymore. But it’s good. It’s finally peaceful.”

For Reinhardt, Palum, and the GR Maritime team, the Napoli became a test of endurance, ingenuity, and determination.

“Every wreck has its personality,” Reinhardt reflected. “The Napoli was stubborn, but in the end, she yielded. We did right by her, by the coast, and by the sea.”

The Napoli’s Legacy

In maritime circles, the MSC Napoli salvage is already being studied as a model for future wreck removals. The chain cradle method, perfected under such difficult conditions, is now considered a benchmark for lifting heavy structures from sticky seabeds.

More importantly, the operation showed that even in an age of advanced technology, salvage remains a human endeavor — reliant on courage, patience, and teamwork.

On the cliffs at Branscombe, as the last barge disappeared over the horizon, the sun broke through the clouds. The sea was calm, as if acknowledging that the battle was over.

And so ended the story of the MSC Napoli — a story of disaster, determination, and eventual triumph.