MSC Napoli towed towards coastline with 1,000T nickel
Source: Reuters
(Recasts, updates position of vessel, updates nickel price) By Anna Stablum LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The container ship MSC Napoli, with at least 1,000 tonnes of nickel on board, was being towed towards Devon's coast, the British coastguard told Reuters on Friday. "It is heading towards the Devon coastline...she will be (there) about midnight tonight," spokesman Mark Clark said. Earlier, South African stainless steel maker Columbus Stainless had confirmed that at least 1,000 tonnes of nickel was on board the vessel, which had been abandoned in the English Channel on Thursday due to stormy weather. "We are trying to get her into Lime bay...a sheltered bay, so we can start the lightening of the vessel...take some of the cargo off," Clark said. Columbus's mother company, Spain's Acerinox <ACX.MC>, also had nickel on board the vessel, Leata Geneade, import administrator at Columbus Stainless, told Reuters from Durban in South Africa. "It was our material plus our mother company in Spain, we are owned by Acerinox <ACX.MC> in Spain and some of their material was also on the same vessel," Geneade said. When asked if there was more than 1,000 tonnes on board the vessel Geneade said: "Yes." The British-flagged MSC Napoli, 62,277 dead-weight tonnes, was holed on the starboard side in Thursday's storms, forcing the crew to take to a lifeboat, the British coastguard said. [ID:nL1867094] The supplier of the metal, which was bound for Durban from Antwerp in Belgium, was UK-based Stratton Metal Resources, Geneade said. The shipment was equivalent to nearly 20 percent of the total amount of nickel held in London Metal Exchange warehouses, which stand at 5,178 tonnes, or less than two days of global world consumption. About two-thirds of world nickel output is used to make stainless steel and demand has bolstered nickel prices. On Friday, nickel <MNI3> for delivery in three months closed at an all-time high of $36,300 a tonne, moving up from around $13,500 at the start of 2006. On Thursday, nickel was last indicated at $35,400/35,500.
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