I was sent a very interesting email from one of my clients the other day about the plans to raise the Stricken Costa Concordia, so I thought I would share it with you all....It is quite long, but mainly pictures so bare with it as it is an interesting read!
Here's The Ingenious $400 Million Plan To Deal With The Wrecked Costa Concordia
In the Mediterranean . 30 people on board the largest passenger wreck of all time lost their lives; Two are still missing. Nearly a year later, the wreck is still sitting off the Italian coast, mostly submerged. Because the Costa Concordia is in a nationally protected marine park and coral reef, It must be removed from the area before it can be dismantled, posing countless difficulties. In a report on the efforts to remove the wreck, 60 Minutes' Leslie Stahl visited the site And recounted the remarkable salvage operation, which has a $400 million price tag. Not only is it the riskiest, most complicated, and most expensive salvage plan Ever undertaken, but no one is sure if it will work. The ship weighs 60,000 tons and is filled with seawater. CBS News It is sitting on two underwater mountain peaks. 65 percent of it is below the surface. CBS News The wreck is an official crime scene. CBS News The operation, which will cost about $400 million, Is being paid for by insurance companies. CBS News The plan is to rotate the ship upright, and onto an underwater platform. CBS News Then it will float up, leaving more of its structure above the surface. CBS News And it can be towed away. CBS News Before getting on the inclined ship, Workers must take a 4-day mountain climbing course. CBS News The underwater platform is being built in northern Italy . The Steel must be transported through the Adriatic Sea , Around the boot of Italy , and up to the wreck. CBS News The steel that makes it up weighs three times as much as the Eiffel Tower . It will be embedded in the seafloor. CBS News The drill bit will be enclosed in a large tube, To keep debris from contaminating the protected area. CBS News For now, the ship is held in place by steel cables, But strong storms could dislodge it. Then it would sink to the seafloor, Making the salvage operation near impossible. CBS News 111 salvage divers are currently working on the salvage operation Around the clock, in 45-minute shifts. They attached the cables holding the ship where it is. CBS News They all live in floating barracks, next to the wreck site. CBS News How exactly will workers rotate Costa Concordia onto the platform? The plan essentially involves "weld[ing] a new ship onto the shipwreck," Stahl reports. CBS News That new "ship" will consist of huge, hollow steel boxes. CBS News Called sponsons, the biggest are 11 stories tall. CBS News 9 will be welded onto the exposed side of the ship, With just 2 inches between them. CBS News Then steel cables will connect the sponsons to the steel platform. CBS News Hydraulic pulleys will pull the 'Costa Concordia' upright. CBS News More sponsons will be welded onto the other side of the ship. CBS News Once the ship is upright, the extra buoyancy should make it float. CBS News The ship will be floated next summer. Once the process begins, there is no way to stop it, even if something goes wrong. CBS News The backup plan is to break it up where it lies, at a huge cost to the local environment. CBS News If all goes well, the 'Costa Concordia' will be cut up for scrap, far from Giglio. It is so large, the process will take 2 years. |
This post first appeared on Julia's Cruising Bits And Blogs..., please read the originial post: here
