The container vessel was off Damietta, Egypt, when the crew first became aware of the fire.

The partially laden Norasia was scheduled to discharge at Istanbul and at Romanian ports.

The Boa King reached the vessel and commenced firefighting.

It took a week to completely extinguish all fires within the Norasia . Thermal imaging equipment was used to detect hot-spots, which were dealt with promptly to avoid the risk of serious flare-ups.

A subsequent salvage inspection revealed that over 70 containers were directly involved in the fire or were damaged. Work began on temporary repairs and the preparation of Norasia for the discharge of damaged containers at Cyprus.

SMIT operations in July also included a response to the grounding of the NATO vessel Alliance . This research ship was undertaking a programme of work in the Mediterranean when she struck rocks in waters south west of Elba. The impact resulted in significant bottom damage and spaces began to flood. The vessel's Master decided to deliberately beach Alliance off the island of Pianosa, to prevent her sinking.

The incident occurred on Saturday July 23. The refloating was achieved during the morning of Wednesday July 27. This operation was carried out under LOF 2000, with Italian salvor Neri as co-salvor.

A SMIT salvage team flew to the scene from Rotterdam, joining forces with Neri personnel from Livorno. Two Neri tugs responded. A work barge was also deployed, to act as a surface platform for the salvage and diving teams.

An underwater inspection revealed that 15m of the bow section of Alliance was buried in the sandy bottom. Four cracks in the hull were examined by divers.

These were patched prior to the refloating. The vessel was taken to a safe location for a further diving inspection.

Alliance was then towed to Genoa for drydocking and repairs.

Lloyd's Form operations in August included the response to the grounded general cargo vessel Eugenio . The vessel was found to be hard aground off Madagascar and the salvage team faced a challenge due to strong currents and low visibility in the water due to high sand content.

Working in association with the South African company Subtech, SMIT Salvage refloated the Eugenio on August 18.

MJ Information No: 21158