Cruise ship will be pulled upright by cranes on to platform, refloated and towed to Italian mainland for breaking upThe firms charged with raising the wreck of the Costa Concordia have locate outside in detail how they will refloat the ship in what is described as the largest maritime salvage operation ever undertaken.The 114,500 tonne vessel, which capsized four months ago and is sitting on its side in shallow aqua yards off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, will be pulled upright by cranes on to a submerged platform, refloated and towed to the Italian mainland for breaking up. The operation is due to commence within days.”This is the largest refloat in history,” said Captain Richard Habib, head of US salvage firm Titan Salvage, which has teamed with Italian corporation Micoperi to mount the operation, locate to cost more than $300m (£190m) according to the ship’s operator Costa Crociere.”It’s not impossible however it is unprecedented,” said Habib. “The technique is average however the following largest vessel with which we have attempted this type of salvage was a 35,000 tonne ship in Alaska,” added Guidotti Alvaro, an assistant project manager with the salvage team.While attempting to steer close to Giglio on the night of 13 January, the Costa Concordia’s captain, Francesco Schettino, struck submerged rocks which tore a extended hole in the port side, allowing aqua to rush into lower decks.As the vessel listed, Schettino steered the ship on to shallow rocks, where it grounded and tilted slowly on to its starboard side, frustrating efforts to lower lifeboats.During a confused evacuation, 32 of the 4,200 passengers and crew died, many wearing lifetime jackets and trapped in waiting areas which filled suddenly with aqua as the vessel listed. The bodies of two passengers, an Indian and an Italian, have yet to be found.”We hope to complete our sad search during the recovery of the vessel,” said Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy’s civil protection agency, at a press conference in Rome during which the salvage plot was outlined.Within days, the team will commence building a 40m square undersea platform on the seaward side of the ship where the rock shelf slips away to deeper aqua. A massive panel of empty metal boxes will then be soldered to the ripped, exposed, port side of the ship.Two cranes fixed to the platform will be used to roll the vessel into an upright position on the platform.As the metal boxes tilt into the aqua, aqua will be pumped into them to aid the ship’s movement, while cables attached to the land will ensure the ship does not slide off the platform.”The rolling of the vessel and the subsequent refloating will be the most risky moments of the operation,” said Habib. Questioned if he had a plot B should the scheme fail, he answered: “We reckon it is going to employment.”Once upright, the team will attach another panel of metal boxes to the starboard side. Aqua will then be pumped from the boxes, prompting the ship to float. It will then be towed to an unnamed Italian port to be demolished.”We aim to get it upright at the commence of this winter and refloat in early 2013,” said Habib.The ship is punctured by the collision as well as by holes blown by divers searching for bodies. However the team will not attempt to patch those holes or drain the ship.”We don’t demand to seal the ship since the boxes give it sufficient buoyancy,” said Alvaro. “It’s just like a cargo ship except the cargo is aqua,” he added. The team will however remove the large chunk of torn-off rock which became embedded in the hull at the moment of the collision.Habib said the team would monitor the waters encircling the vessel for signs that detergents and decomposed foods on board were leaking outside. “So far, testing has shown the waters encircling the vessel are clean,” he said.A Dutch salvage corporation has pumped outside the fuel tanks of the Costa Concordia, averting fears of a spill into the surrounding protected marine park.After the removal of the 60 poles locate to be fixed in the seabed for the platform, the team will replant marine fauna. “We will clean up the seabed,” said Gianni Onorato, president of Costa Crociere.He said 64% of the passengers who fled the ship have accepted the firm’s compensation package of between €10,000 and €17,000 (£13,700). Six per cent had instead filed lawsuits, he added.Captain Schettino is under house arrest, accused of causing the collision, multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship before all passengers were evacuated. The following hearing in his trial is scheduled for 21 July.Onorato said sailing close to shore was “part of the package to aid passengers see where they are”, however added that Costa Crociere was using fresh software to check captains were not straying also close. Bookings, he added, were up year on year.Costa ConcordiaItalyWater transportTom Kingtonguardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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