| INDUSTRY & SAFETY |
The container industry will be in deep trouble should a super postpanamax container vessel sink, given that the salvage industry and public authorities “barely cope” with the sinking of the 4,688-TEU MSC Napoli in 2007.
That’s the warning issued to a gathering of the shipping community in London by Andrew Chamberlain, partner in UK law firm Holman Fenwick & Willan, which specializes in international commerce.
A report by London’s Containerisation International said Mr Chamberlain also highlighted other problems, included the “increasingly risk-averse salvage industry which is now in crisis, having few global players and limited and aging resources”.
”Shipping will sooner or later face its ‘deep-water horizon’ moment, and the consequences may well result in a complete change in the accepted liability regimes and even the traditionally accepted insurance arrangements for such large vessels,” said Mr Chamberlain.