JANUARY 13, 2014 — As ceremonies marked the 2 yr anniversary of the Costa Concordia tragedy which value 32 lives, particulars emerged on progress with plans to tow the wreck away and scrap it.
It now seems that the ship might be towed out in June. However, its closing vacation spot won’t be identified till by the top of February-early March 2014 when the responses to an invite to tender that was despatched out final month have been evaluated.
Removing the wreck of the large cruise ship from the environmentally delicate waters of Italy’s Isola del Giglio is broadly thought-about essentially the most daunting salvage ever tried on a ship of its dimension.
The ship’s proprietor, Carnival Corporation subsidiary Costa Crociere, awarded the contract to take away the ship in a single piece to Titan-Micoperi Srl, a three way partnership between Crowley Maritime’s Titan Salvage and Italy’s Micoperi. Titan-Micoperi’s supply was chosen primarily based on stringent standards, 90% of which referred to environmental safety, security and the socio-economic material of the island neighborhood and the profitable bid was really the costliest of the six submitted.
The parbuckling, or righting, of the ship was efficiently carried out September final yr.
Since being raised, the wreck has been resting on the false sea mattress created beneath it as half of the parbuckling process at a depth of about 30 meters.
To assure extra stability for the wreck, winterization measures noticed 28 tubular metal braces positioned to connecting the sponsons on the wreck to the underwater platforms on the offshore facet, the positioning of extra grout luggage on the inshore facet and the set up of an extra holdback system for the bow.
Following the parbuckling, the wreck was surveyed to evaluate its total situation, notably the starboard facet, which was beforehand submerged and inaccessible. Engineers then decided the structural repairs required forward of the set up of the 15 sponsons that should nonetheless be positioned on the starboard (inshore) facet.
The set up of the sponsons is deliberate to begin in April 2014. They have already been constructed and are being ready for set up within the Titan Micoperi Terminal in Livorno. Another 4 sponsons are nonetheless to be put in on the port facet, making a complete of 15 on this facet as effectively.
Initially, the 30 sponsons on both facet of the vessel might be stuffed with water. A pneumatic system might be used to empty the water progressively, thus offering ample buoyancy for flotation.
It is a fragile operation and engineers estimate that it’d take a number of days. On completion of this course of, a portion of the hull of about 18.5 meters will stay submerged.
After refloating, the wreck might be prepared for transportation to its closing port of vacation spot for dismantling and recycling.
The wreck is considered waste and due to this fact, in response to Italian legislation, the Tuscan Regional Administration is in command of authorizing its transportation.
Various potentialities are being thought-about for transportation of the wreck:
a) Currently, conventional towing is taken into account the primary choice.
b) With a US$ 30 million contract, Costa Crociere has additionally optioned the world’s largest semi-submersible ship, the Dockwise Vanguard, as an extra various. The Dockwise Vanguard provides two doable offloading strategies for the Concordia: “float off”, which signifies that the wreck can be offloaded into the ocean afloat, or “skid off”, whereby the Concordia can be transferred from the Dockwise Vanguard instantly onto a pier or an adjoining quayside space. A call on the offloading technique might be made in due time, ought to this mode of transportation be required.
When delivered afloat, the wreck (together with the hooked up sponsons) is predicted to have the next total dimensions:
Length Overall (LOA): 289.6 meters
Extreme Breadth together with sponsons: roughly 62.5 meters
Maximum Draft: 18.5 meters Weight Approximately 75,000 tons
According to Italian media stories, 12 ports and firms in six totally different nations are bidding for the contract to dismantle the vessel for scrap. The corporations angling for the contract are believed to return from Italy, England, France, Norway, Turkey and the Netherlands.
Italy’s setting minister Andrea Orlando has reportedly stated that the federal government would like “a domestic destination” for the ship’s dismantling.
Genoa appears the Italian port greatest positioned to win the contract, whereas Costa Croceria is reported to favors the Turkish port of Aliağa. In late 2012 the corporate despatched its Costa Allegra cruise ship to Aliağa for scrapping, after struggling a fireplace off the coast of the Seychelles that yr.
