Napoli remains removed by summer

The estimated cost of the total salvage operation is thought to be about £50m

The remains of a 62,000-tonne ship which was beached off the south west coast of England two years ago will be removed by the end of the summer.

The MSC Napoli was deliberately grounded off the Dorset and Devon World Heritage Coast at Branscombe in January 2007 after it was damaged in a storm.

The hull has already been removed but work to lift the 3,800-tonne stern section will get under way in June.

The removal operation is expected to take two months to complete.

The estimated cost of the total salvage operation is thought to be in the region of £50m.

Cracked hull

The Napoli was en route from Antwerp to South Africa and was carrying 2,400 containers and 3,664 tonnes of fuel oil and marine diesel when its hull was cracked during a storm off Cornwall.

The 26 crew on board were airlifted to safety and the decision was taken to ground the vessel at Branscombe, off the Devon coast, following concerns that the ship could pollute the English Channel if it broke up at sea.

We plan to be ready to start lifting in June, we should finish the project during August Klaas Reinigert, Global Response Maritime BV

Many of the ship's containers washed ashore and thousands of scavengers helped themselves to the contents - from disposable nappies to motorbikes.

Explosives were later used to split the Napoli's hull in two for disposal and the bow section was towed to the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast for scrap.

Dutch salvage company Global Response Maritime BV has been awarded the contract to remove the final section of the container vessel.

Klaas Reinigert, the firm's managing director, said: "During the first quarter of 2009 we will start test drilling.

"We plan to be ready to start lifting in June, we should finish the project during August."