Waiting for Whitehall
The MSC Napoli will not be re-floated this weekend as planned because her future is still uncertain.
Re-floatation plans for this weekend have been put on hold as the fate of The Napoli is still being discussed in Whitehall. Secretary of State’s representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention, Robin Middleton said:
“What actually happens needs to be concurrent with the fate of the ship – there’s no point floating this thing only to have it sink again somewhere. I need to know what exactly the final fate of the ship is going to be and there are a number of aspects to that.”
Legalities of solutions such as sinking the ship in deep water or cutting her up where she is are still being discussed in Whitehall according to Mr Middleton, who dismissed rumours that the delay was down to this week’s change to government.
He said: “It’s unfortunate it’s happened because we’ll have new ministers and new secretary of state and of course the outgoing people have worked with me and this system... A new one won’t have but the civil service is still the civil service and the people who are there advising the new politicians will still be the same people.”