A salvage team has today started removing more than 2,000 containers from the grounded cargo ship MSC Napolioff the Devon coast.
The process will take up to five months as Napoliis already listing badly a mile off Sidmouth, Devon.
Salvagers will use a larger crane to remove the cargo - laden with everything from BMW motorbikes to nappies - in priority order without unbalancing the ship.
A smaller crane will then transfer the containers to a barge, which will deliver them to Portland Port in batches of up to 90 a time.
The process would have taken just a few days in port but Napolisuffered hull damage in a mid Channel storm on January 18th when 26 crew were rescued after abandoning into a lifeboat.
The 62,000-tonne vessel was then grounded in Lyme Bay on a World Heritage Site coast amid fears she would sink while on tow to Portland, Dorset.
Looters combed nearby Branscombe Beach after 103 containers fell overboard and 56 washed ashore last week.
The MCA fears more containers could fall into the sea during the unloading operation and has urged people to stay away. Work to pump the 3,500 tonnes of fuel oil on Napoliinto a waiting tanker continues round-the-clock.
So far half the fuel oil has been pumped off emptying two of the ship's four main fuel tanks. It is expected to take at least another week to recover all the fuel.
PA