COSTA CONCORDIA Raised From The Rocks
Update: September 17, 2013. The BBC News site has a time lapse view of the righting of the COSTA CONCORDIA http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24119836
Update: September 16, 2013. During the night the ship was brought upright by the salvage team.
- DigitalGlobe image of COSTA CONOCORDIA taken 308 miles above the Earth on Jan 17, 2012
The salvage of the wreck of COSTA CONCORDIA is being well covered in the media and has now reached a crucial stage at Gilio, Italy. The good news is that the daunting task of righting the vessel is thus far succeeding, with the ship now freed from the rocks she lodged on after capsizing in January 2012.
Some 20 months later, the ship is being righted onto a submerged platform constructed under her keel. Once that has been completed, she can be made seaworthy and removed from the island.
Thirty two people died when the Costa Cruise ship ran aground off the Tuscan coast and two of those killed were never found.
The operation to right COSTA CONCORDIA will continue through the night and the engineers expect this phase to continue until Tuesday morning (local time). The next phase will involve the attachment of caissons to assist in making the ship buoyant. When that is completed, the wreck can be floated away to be broken up, most likely at Aliaga, Turkey.
A website explaining in detail the methods used to raise the COSTA CONCORDIA with a live feed and diagrams, can be found at: http://www.theparbucklingproject.com/
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Although the BBC had good coverage, Reuters continues with it’s live feed and excellent articles. I recommend this site.
http://live.reuters.com/Event/Raising_the_Costa_Concordia
Congratulations to the Salvage teams. Great job!
But how would they beach her at Aliaga as she will not be refloated to her original draught but be sitting some 10 – 15 metres lower in the water?
…. and according to the press, she will be towed to an Italian port to be scrapped (I believe it was originally said to be in a dry dock).
Excellent work by Nick Sloane and his team
I think the place of scrapping is TBD. I was in Aliaga two weeks ago and there was much talk about bringing her there. The breakers association has already been approached by Italian authorities to see if they can handle the task, which would involve beaching the ship sideways. We shall see… — Peter
lots of conflicting reports on TV – most say scrapping in Italy, one at a cost $800US million, for what part of the project?
I really like the way some of these “paid to read” not paid to think reporters mispronounce C O S T A and, some refer to the ships as a luxury ocean liner LOL
Any way, I will rely on Martin and the Peter team for my info here.
An amazing feat of innovative engineering…essentially made up as they went along. Bravo for those guys thinking outside the box.
Now all of this makes me wonder…what if they could have raised Normandie this was…would she be alongside the Queen Mary?
I wonder how fragile the hull is now, sitting for over a year and a half on its side in corrosive saltwater. My sympathies lie with the workers who will have to sift through the foul-smelling debris to retrieve passengers’ belongings, and to find those two missing bodies.
Now if they only could use that same ingenuity to raise the HMHS Britannic from the Adianic Sea. That would be a true maritime triumph.
Didn’t the passengers give up on their posessions left behind when/if they accepted an insurance pay out? I would think everything on board is property of the salvage team or breaker yard.
Eddie Biddle said
Now if they only could use that same ingenuity to raise the HMHS Britannic from the Adianic Sea. That would be a true maritime triumph.
That would be way cool, but a completely different thing since it’s in what? About 500 feet of water? Moreover, by now that hull truly is extremely fragile, and would most likely break up into rusty junk if raising were tried.
I’ve though about filling the interior of the ship with expanding foam, or bladders that can be filled with compressed air. The compressed air would have to have a release mechanism so it wouldn’t blow the hull apart as it rises in the water.
Yet, it’s just too fragile to be able to do anything with it, in my opinion.
Mark D.
Great success- especially for the team!!