Update One year later: Costa Concordia salvage operation underway This January 13 marks the one-year anniversary of the Costa Concordia accident that claimed the souls of 32 on board. While the ship remains lying on her side half submerged off the coast of Isola del Giglio, the salvage operation is well underway. The Italo-American Titan-Micoperi consortium has a five-stage operation in place, that is projected, if the weather holds up and all goes according to plan, to refloat and remove the Concordia wreckage by the end of this summer. The project is broken down into five phases. 1. Holdback system and Stabilization: This phase will require the anchoring and stabilization of the wreck in order to prevent slipping or sinking. 2. Installation of submarine supports and portside caissons: The false bottom, where the wreck will rest after its rotated upright, is prepared. Grout bags will be positioned in the empty space between the two spurs on which the wreck is resting, and will be filled with concrete to create a stable base for the hull. Next, the caissons will be
installed on the port side of the ship. The steel caissons—a total of 30 were built by Fincantieri for the operation—will eventually be filled with water to help right the ship. 3. Parbuckling will see the ship pulled upright. This process is expected to take up to two days to be completed. 4. Installation of caissons on starboard side: The remaining caissons will be attached to the starboard side of the ship and filled with water to keep the ship upright. 5. Re-floating: The final stage will see all the caissons (on both sides of the ship) gradually emptied by hydraulic pumps. This will push the ship upwards away from the false bottom. Once the caissons are emptied the ship will be refloated (just 18 m of the bottom of the ship will remain submerged) and towed to an Italian port. As we were going to print, the stabilization part of the first phase was completed and more than 30% of the grout bags had been filled with cement. To further speed up the work for the holdback process (which is simultaneously taking place on the starboard side), technicians removed the ship’s funnel
and its internal workings. In a meeting with Giglio citizens late last month, the Consortium updated the citizens on the project’s progress and reiterated that it would be unrealistic and misleading to set a precise date for the project’s completion, but that the hope would be to have it removed by then end of this summer. You can keep track of the salvage operation’s progress at theparbucklingproject. com
NEw COsTA FLAGshIp Construction of Costa Cruises’ new flagship, the Costa Diadema, has begun. The first building block of the ship, weighing approximately 504 tonnes, and measuring 15.7 m in breadth by 29 m in length, was set in place at Fincantieri’s Marghera, Italy shipyard. Upon completion, the 132,500 gt ship will be the largest Italian-flagged cruise ship afloat and carry a total of 4,947 passengers.
To make it safely to harbor,
it takes a strong and agile partner.
Strength. Agility. Expertise. That’s what counts in this business. Ask for Great American coverage for Hull/PI • Pollution • Marine Liabilities Shiprepairer Legal • Spill Responder • Marina Operators • Excess Liability Ocean Cargo. Contact Captain Ed Wilmot at 212-510-0125; ewilmot@gaic.com Great American Insurance Group I 580 Walnut Street I Cincinnati, OH 45202 I GreatAmericanInsurance.com
10 MARINE LOG JANUARY 2013
Ocean Marine Division www.GreatAmericanOcean.com
www.marinelog.com