Size matters
The Lloyd’s report, Complex Cases, Costly Solutions: The Challenges and Implications of removing Shipwrecks in the 21st Century, explains how increasing vessel sizes and growing cargo volumes are driving up wreck removal costs.
In the cruise sector there are 51 vessels currently in service of greater than 100,000 gross tonnes, a further seven under construction and more on order. By comparison, in 2007, there were only 40 such vessels in service or under construction. Container vessels have grown in size too. In the 1990s a large container vessel carried some 5000 “twenty foot equivalent units” (TEU). By the mid-2000s containerships with a capacity of 12,000TEU were coming into service. The largest containership in service today has a capacity of 16,000 units.
Global media coverage and lobbying from environmental groups has added to the pressure on international and local authorities, intensifying their oversight of wreck removal and adding to costs. Environmental considerations, related to the wreck’s cargo or own bunker fuel, have a significant impact on costs, especially the removal of bunker fuel, the report explains.
Technology has pushed the boundaries of what is feasible for wreck removal specialists. Fuel and cargo, for example, can be recovered from a wreck lying in deep water and, if it is achievable, the authorities increasingly demand for it to be done.
The report notes that in three particularly expensive cases – the Napoli, Rena and the Costa Concordia – the influence of the authorities was the most significant factor in increasing the cost of the operation and could be the key factor determining the total cost of removals.