Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy

From this BBC report:

Literally 2 weeks to the day, after the Costa Concordia originally ran aground / and was basically "sunk", the Italian authorities have apparently abandonned all hope of rescuing victims from the submersed parts of the cruise-ship at least.

I found it quite interesting that on the French news yesterday evening, the media interviewed several passengers embarking on another Costa cruise-ship tour, following more or less the identical itinerary of the Costa Concordia aboard a more or less identical cruise-ship. Noone expressed any real concerns in the wake of the Costa Concordia incident...?!

I do have a suggestion however. That cruise-ship operators in future somehow insist that all normal passengers sign a "disclaimer form" before buying their cruise/s, and somehow differentiate their own products from other suppliers. Such as those companies which accommodate adventurous individuals who like to bungee-jump in Papua New Guinea, or other destinations, where the nearest competent hospital is at least 30-60 minutes (helicopter) flight time away but who would never dream of attacking the supplier for receiving serious head injuries (they dress in shorts and have bones sticking out of their cheeks)...?! Unless I'm very much mistaken, in this case, we're talking about a very big and serious holding company owning the cruise ship involved as well as being a, if not, the major player involved in cruise-ships worldwide.

They might well succeed in getting away with paying out Euro 11,000 per surviving passenger aboard the Costa Concordia. Which is far too generous in my opinion - Disney would have made them pay (much less) for a similar but also much less memorable event...?!

Thank goodness though, that the media and other authorities have not released whatever images they might have had of any Hammerhead and other shark squalls venturing into the cruise liner. Apparently (and because of global-warming), the bigger sharks hitherto confined to the eastern Mediterranean (and coming through the Red Sea and canal) have since enlarged their territories. Whereas great Whites once reputedly roamed offshore between France, Corsica and Sardinia during a part of the year, as recently as 2009, their absence today consterns many. Instead of half a dozen great Whites hunting the incresingly rare tunas, the south of France and western Mediterranean countries should beware of the increasing dangers of "man-eating-capable sharks" arriving at their beaches.

Heck, that should add another €3-4 thousand to the settlement...?!

PS. In these difficult economic times, it would not surprise me if the Italian authorities eventually charged Costa Concordia survivors (why not individually, since the cruise-line has offerred them quite favourable terms) in an endeavour to cover all / most of the costs of the government's intervention and rescue efforts of passengers?! The cruise line is a corporation with limited liability. The Italian government (as most governments, have an unlimited liability). There is some difference surely. Especially during these days when 80% of the working populations of most countries are paying for and securing the mistakes of the world's most fortunate 10% (or should that be 1%)...

While waiting for his trial Schettino got a temporary job to help make ends meet.

Hi,

I saw that on Facebook last week, the caption was it was his first day at work and he wanted to feel at home.

Pumping

Tanker arrived on station this morning. Looks like the fuel is good to go.

WebCam Giglio Porto Panoramica | isola-del-giglio | webcam

It's a bit choppy this morning with the odd heavy breaker.

It will be interesting to see if the sea state has an impact on the ships position. Some Italian websites have her sitting on a sandy shelf at the top of a slope (although how accurate these drawings are is open to question). If she is on sand then there might be some movement.

WebCam Giglio Porto Panoramica | isola-del-giglio | webcam

Well my goodness!!!
I'm such a simpleton and easy mark, I would have passed that first post and picture, as an attempt at humor.
K1W1, your comment/question makes me have to ask, is that for real ?

My ADD at work, just read things again and see that your's was not the question, but rather a statement.

Ron

Hi,

There is also a set of photos showing Italian GP Riders by surname and the ship last.

Fabrizio

Rossi

Biaggi

Schettino

If you want to see it send me a PM with your e mail addy and I will send it to you.

RFQ for clean up goes out

In a press release today:

"Costa Crociere has set up a technical committee, with representatives from Costa Cruises, Carnival Corporation & plc, Fincantieri, Rina and sector experts, including academics, who will work for the best possible drawing up of the plan, on a joint basis with the competent authorities. As anticipated in a letter sent to Costa Concordia Emergency Commissioner Franco Gabrielli, Costa Cruises has called for tenders 10 companies throughout the world to present a working plan to enterely remove the hull of the Costa Concordia. "

The whole story's at

Costa Calls on Salvage Companies for Ship

I tried a search of this thread and had no results, I wonder what depth the water around the ship is and how is the sea floor topography ?
Seems I remember something about a worry of the ship slipping further under the surface.

Anyone have this information ?

Ron

Hi,

I read the whole article but don't know what the last paragraph has to do with the salvage or wreck removal of a Cruise Ship in Italy.

“Roughly two thirds of the North American workboat market consists of fleets with less than 20 vessels, and there is growing demand for affordable, simple satellite communications solutions that help these companies stay competitive and compliant.”

Company size

Yep... I agree. My guess is that the author was trying to convey something about the lack of companies with large enough fleets to handle the task, cut and pasted something from another article, and then both s/he and the editor didn't proofread the article.

I googled "Costa Cruises has called for tenders 10 companies" and got many better articles, such as CONCORDIA Salvage Plans | MaritimeMatters | Cruise ship news and ocean liner history

Hi,

It would be interesting to see the offers and proposals that these companies come up with.

If it can't be patched and moved in one I would expect to see the diamond cable saw trick used on the Kursk and the Tricolour in use there.

There are a quite few pretty experienced Salvors amongst the staff at a number of those shown to being on the "short list".

Hello,
I found the answers to depth and bottom conditions, If out of the box ideas are acceptable here, I might have one later today.

Ron

Two tankers on station this morning, with lots of activity and they are putting out extra booms. I guess they will start pumping now the weather has settled down.

WebCam Giglio Porto Panoramica | isola-del-giglio | webcam

Costa Concordia, can she be saved ?

Up front I'll state that the closest to being an engineer, is experience and observation on a personal level.

Thinking Outside The Box,....Two words must be completely removed from all consideration,.....IMPOSSIBILITY, and EXPENSE.

A project that cannot go away, it must be completed.
Being aware of size and magnitude of the operation, methods in history of salvage leave little hope of more than scrapping the ship and at best a little bit of an affect to water and atmosphere.

An absurd idea, but In my opinion possible, would be developing a man-made iceberg that completely envelops the ship, the use of insulation, cooling grids, along with proper locations, will result in a proper thickness shell of water tight ice, then a controlled melting and pumping of the water can roll the ship into an upright position. Different phases of freezing and melting would be required in order to control the rate of up-righting of the ship.

I have in mind a method of operation, that could be in place quickly and that would result in a completely contained operation.
Too detailed for a forum posting, I think, but good quality engineers could take the idea to a high level of evaluation. In the event that some part of what might work, being passed over because it's simplicity does not reveal it's worth, I'm open to any form of communication.

With no dog in the hunt, only an interest in seeing such a beautiful ship saved and a front row seat to the action here on the forum, I would like to see a successful and environmental clean operation.

Others might have thoughts and are welcome to share, I would think brief overview postings.
Beyond proven and successful operations in the past, not much can be new and different, but who knows ????

Ron

No one knows what damage is on the Stbd side. If the only gash in the shell plating is that big one with the rock in it that could be patched and the ship could probably be righted and raised.

Looks to me like the Musashi could make quick work of it...

Hi,

In parts only half as heavy as this one could handle.

ZPMC “blue whale”: World’s Largest Floating Crane | China's Great Science and Technology

Wow,
Never have seen anything that big, but then I haven't been around the marine industry since the late 70's.
The barge looks to be floating almost level, are there two available ? I suspect the cruse ship might be close to twice the size of the one in the photo ? what would be it's rated lift capacity ?

As a deck hand on a 65' push boat, we were so far under the bow of an average ship, that one could not look straight up and see the sky, we were transporting the tie lines to the wharf, almost downtown New Orleans.

With things like that, my idea would be lots of work, but then always fun outside the box looking in.

Ron

With machinery like that, I can see why CNOOC is investing 2.2 Billion for South Texas, Eagle Ford Shale oil.
Finding big equipment to lift the Costa Concordia, might not be as much of a problem as I would have imagined.

My travels around the world, using Google Earth, might be more enlightening if I zoom in on details, something like that should be obvious.

Ron