Costa Concordia refloating to be complete in 10 days

[Chieftain]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/costa-concordia-refloating-to-be-complete-in-10-days-1.2695635

Thomson Reuters Posted: Jul 03, 2014 3:29 PM ET

The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise liner is set to be refloated within 10 days, to be towed away from the Italian island where it ran aground and capsized two and a half years ago, the group organizing the removal said on Thursday.

The hulk of the 290-metre ship was righted and secured in a complex operation off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio last September and, with the arrival of calm summer weather, is now due to be towed to Genoa to be broken up for scrap.

The last of 30 stabilising devices or "sponsons" was attached to the wreck on Thursday and technicians will now start to test all the systems for the final refloating, the Concordia Wreck Removal Project said in a statement.

"Following installation of the last sponson, we can start the countdown to refloating and final departure of the wreck," Michael Thamm, chief executive of Costa Cruises, a unit of the liner's owner Carnival Corp, said in the statement.

The organisers said the last phases of the project to remove the 114,500-tonne vessel, the largest maritime salvage in history, would be explained in detail in the next few days.

A consortium including oil services group Saipem and the Genoa-based companies Mariotti and San Giorgio will carry out the dismantling.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is on trial accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. Thirty-two people died in the catastrophe.

[flowers]

Wow ...it has been just amazing to watch this event. 

[flowers]

[truth_seeker]

All that effort, to take it to salvage? Why not dismantle it on site?

[EC]

All that effort, to take it to salvage? Why not dismantle it on site?

Half full fuel tanks. Don't want to let that crap out into the sea, especially at this time of year when the tourists are flocking to the beaches.

[truth_seeker]

Half full fuel tanks. Don't want to let that crap out into the sea, especially at this time of year when the tourists are flocking to the beaches.

Apparently. But what about containment booms?

[EC]

Apparently. But what about containment booms?

They work - if you are on the surface. The fuel tanks are lethal if they sink, since they don't vent straight up. Truk Lagoon is still a limited diving area due to the huge amounts of fuel down there, and that is not exactly a tourist hotspot, unlike the Isola del Giglio. 

[Chieftain]

All that effort, to take it to salvage? Why not dismantle it on site?

If you look at the diagrams below, you will see that the ship partially on her side on a steep shelf that leads to much deeper water.  The first part of the salvage was to stabilize the wreck to keep it from sliding off into deeper water and sinking to the bottom in several hundred feet of water.

That site has a sensitive environment as it is, and there is no way anyone in authority would ever permit a salvor to even attempt to scrap a vessel that size in place.  It cannot be done for many good reason, and that is why the safest thing to do is refloat her and put her in a dry dock for scrapping.

[flowers]

does anyone know the odds of this working?

[EC]

does anyone know the odds of this working?

Almost 100% that it'll work. It's a modification of the technique they used to raise the Mary Rose - and if it works on a vessel that has been underwater completely since before Columbus were born, it'll certainly work on a semi submerged ship that's only been there for a couple of years.

[Chieftain]

Almost 100% that it'll work. It's a modification of the technique they used to raise the Mary Rose - and if it works on a vessel that has been underwater completely since before Columbus were born, it'll certainly work on a semi submerged ship that's only been there for a couple of years.

This was also an update on the technology used to right and refloat ships at Pearl Harbor.  Pretty solid technique and the hull should be drydocked within a few days of the refloating.

[EC]

This was also an update on the technology used to right and refloat ships at Pearl Harbor.  Pretty solid technique and the hull should be drydocked within a few days of the refloating.

Damn - yes! You posted about that a year or so ago, right? I KNEW it looked familiar.

[flowers]

This was also an update on the technology used to right and refloat ships at Pearl Harbor.  Pretty solid technique and the hull should be drydocked within a few days of the refloating.

question someone asked me if the ship was to damaged to do this technique to raise and move it?