San Francisco Frontiers - Dutch divers still haul up debris six years after container spill

They are trying to clear the shallow Wadden Sea where the MSC Zoe -- one of the world's largest cargo ships -- lost hundreds of containers of car parts, televisions, light bulbs, furniture and toys in a 2019 storm.

Despite clean-up efforts, debris still litters the seabed of the UNESCO-listed tidal wetland, which spans the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.

On a grey summer day they "salvaged a set of nets and debris and also I think it was electrical cables, probably from the MSC Zoe," volunteer Harold Batteram, 67, told AFP, his diving suit covered with little wriggling crustaceans.

The spill also released organic peroxide, a toxic and highly flammable chemical used in plastics manufacturing.

"In a split second, the whole Wadden Sea beaches were like a heap of junk," said Ellen Kuipers, the director of the CleanUpXL project.

- 800 tons of waste -

Set up in 2021 by four Dutch environmental groups, CleanUpXL sends rescue boats and divers to clear the 800 tons of waste still on the seabed.

Kuipers said the Dutch government led much of the initial clean-up, but efforts have faded in recent years.

"They did a lot of cleaning but it became more and more difficult at the end, because the things they cleaned up were only the things" traceable to the MSC Zoe, she said.

In April 2024, the government published a previously confidential list revealing 6,000 locations where debris and waste might still be found.

Kuipers said the focus should be not only on the MSC Zoe debris but on all waste on the seabed, since the sites are protected UNESCO World Heritage areas.

"We do this to also pressure the government so that they move and clean up," she said.

"And it's also for a lot of people to be aware that everything we have in our house -- furniture and that kind of stuff -- has travelled by container ship.

- 'Out of sight, out of mind' -

Under a choppy sea, the divers recovered a pink child's down jacket, bringing with it dozens of baby crabs and starfish.

"It's a noble goal, right?" said Batteram after spending nearly three quarters of an hour 22 metres below the surface.

"There's a lot of trash at the sea bottom, not too many people are aware of that," said the retired data scientist.

While part of what was lost on the MSC Zoe will float, "the majority will still be at the bottom".

"It's out of sight, out of mind," he said.

"So we try to bring that to (people's) attention."

K.Torres--SFF