Extraordinary measures save vessel, crew and cargo

‘General average will not be declared’
JOY ORLEK
REPAIRS TO the MSC Denisse, which was damaged en route from Singapore to Fremantle earlier this month, got underway last week and the line has assured shippers that their cargo will arrive in South Africa as soon as possible – a three to four week delay is what is predicted.
MSC has however confirmed that general average will not be declared to offset the considerable expenses incurred in the rescue of the vessel. “MSC has never in its 35-year history declared general average, and this time is no different,” chairman in South Africa Captain Salvatore Sarno told FTW.
“As is always the case in any moment of crisis for the line, our president Mr Aponte took leadership of the operation and took every step to ensure the safety of crew and cargo.”
When the vessel’s engine room was flooded earlier this month it was left drifting without power some 40 nautical miles southeast of Christmas island. With no tugs or salvage companies in sight, any solution demanded ‘out of the box’ thinking, which is an MSC trademark.
Aponte arranged for portable pumps to be brought on board the vessel in order to pump out water from the engine room. When this provided insufficient power, he arranged for professional divers from Hong Kong to be flown to Christmas Island to close the ship’s sea chest valve leading to the engine room and so prevent further water ingress.
“Once again Mr Aponte and his band of loyal helpers have achieved the unthinkable,” said Sarno, who quoted the words of Aponte, emailed to him following the successful rescue of the vessel: “As you all know the Australian Navy, Lloyds of London, and other organisations throughout the world considered the vessel ‘lost’, but our determination, our experience, and our continuous follow-up have saved the vessel the crew and the cargo.”