Shipping line launches container clear-up operation
Volunteers and local authorities have helped clean up debris from the shores of the Netherlands and Germany over the past ten days.
Keystone
The MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has started cleaning up Dutch sea waters, ten days after the Swiss-based firm lost nearly 300 containers from one of its largest cargo vessels in a storm.
This content was published on
2 minutes
swissinfo.ch with Reuters/ug
“The clean-up will likely take months,” Dutch water authorities spokesman Edwin de Feijter said on Saturday. “The largest part of the debris has been located, but there are still parts missing.”
More than 250 containers, some holding hazardous chemicals, fell off one of the world’s largest container ships, the MSC Zoe, on January 2 in German waters near the island of Borkum during a North Sea storm.
Two salvage ships left the harbour at IJmuiden, near Amsterdam, on Friday, heading towards a container north of the tiny Rottumerplaat island, which is blocking an important shipping route between Germany and the Netherlands.
Work was planned to start at midday on Saturday, but rough weather looked set to delay the operation, De Feijter said, adding that 238 objects had been identified in the water so far.
“Those objects are not all entire containers, they can also be part of the cargo lost from broken ones,” he was quoted by the Reuters news agency.
Seventeen containers washed up on shore on several Dutch islands, with the debris of many others littering the islands’ beaches.
MSCExternal link, the world’s number two container shipping group, on Wednesday said it had made significant progress on the Dutch islands, with a total of 1,220 tons of debris collected so far.
The company thanked local authorities and municipalities as well as voluntary helpers for their support and warned bad weather could delay the clean-up.
Dutch authorities last week said they would hold MSC liable for the cost of cleaning up the waters.
Roughly 100 soldiers joined the clean-up operation last week, while local authorities and volunteers had already gathered up tons of waste from several kilometres of coastline.
MSC is the world’s second-largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity and it operates in all major ports of the world. Its headquarters are in the Swiss city of Geneva, a landlocked country in heart of Europe.
More
More
Shipping company to pay for container clear-up
This content was published on
Some containers, packed with car parts, TV screens, light bulbs, furniture, toys and other contents, have already washed up on the Wadden Island archipelago – which stretches through Dutch and German territory. The Dutch authorities have dispatched soldiers to help clear them. MSC said it would handle further clean-up operations, in collaboration with local authorities…
Report finds serious security flaws in Swiss hospital information systems
This content was published on
The IT systems of several Swiss hospitals suffer from serious security flaws, according to the National Testing Institute for Cybersecurity (NTC).
Cost of leisure activities rises dramatically in Switzerland
This content was published on
The Swiss paid more for leisure activities in December. Prices for vacation apartments, package tours and cable cars rose significantly.
New Swiss epidemic surveillance centre inaugurated
This content was published on
The Centre for Pathogen Bioinformatics was inaugurated in Bern on Thursday. It aims to improve epidemics monitoring in Switzerland using genomic data.
This content was published on
Switzerland, as a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), signed a free trade agreement with Thailand during WEF.
This content was published on
The federal audit office has criticised the Swiss government for poor planning of the procurement of six drones from an Israeli supplier.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Swiss-based traders scramble to adapt to sulphur shipping cap
This content was published on
It may not have a maritime coastline, but Switzerland will be on the front line regarding measures intended to make sea-bound transport greener.
This content was published on
Some containers, packed with car parts, TV screens, light bulbs, furniture, toys and other contents, have already washed up on the Wadden Island archipelago – which stretches through Dutch and German territory. The Dutch authorities have dispatched soldiers to help clear them. MSC said it would handle further clean-up operations, in collaboration with local authorities…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.