The cost of dealing with wrecks is rising. We have published a new report which warns that the cost of dealing with shipwrecks is spiralling and the increase in removal cost is often passed to insurers, reinsurers and ship owners.
The challenges and implications of removing shipwrecks in the 21st century (2.14 MB, pdf)
Recent examples include the MV Rena, a container ship which sank off New Zealand in 2011 (cost, $240 million to date) and the Costa Concordia.
The total cost of the top 20 most expensive wreck removals in the past decade is $2.1bn and rising. The report shows how increasing vessel sizes and growing cargo volumes are driving up wreck removal costs. In the 1990s a large container vessel carried 5000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEU).Today, the largest container ship has a capacity of 16,000 units.