Titan-Micoperi: Costa Concordia Will Be Upright By Summer’s End.
By Mike Schuler On June 25, 2013
In April, the largest subsea platform used to upright the ship was installed as salvage efforts move forward. Photo: Parbuckling Project
Assuming everything goes as planned, the Costa Concordia shipwreck should be upright by the end of summer.
Engineers of the Titan-Micoperi consortium hired to salvage the ship confirmed the news Tuesday that the “parbuckling,” or the process of rotating the ship upright, will be completed in early September.
The parbuckling will allow salvors to check the currently submerged (starboard) side of the wreck, which has been inaccessible since the ship struck rocks and partially sank on the island of Giglio on January 13, 2012. Once upright, crews will be able to more easily assess the overall condition of the ship, make necessary repairs and additions, and float the thing out of there.
Removal Progress
On Tuesday, residents of Giglio were provided with an update on the wreck removal process from, among others, Franco Gabrielli, Chief Commissioner of Italy’s Protezione Civile, which is the agency in charge of overseeing the operation. The residents were told that although technical details of the next phases still need to be approved before a more accurate timeline is provided, the removal process is moving forward steadily with about 500 workers and 30 vessels working around-the-clock.
Crews today are installing the last of six subsea platforms on which the ship will rest once upright. Each platform measures about 32 feet long by 22 meters high and weighs about 1,000 tons. The platforms are supported by large pillars that are attached to the granite seabed at a depth of about 10 meters.
Also in progress is the installation of high strength grout bags and mattresses, required to fill the gap between the two spurs of rock on which the wreck lies.
In addition, two of the eleven sponsons, or caissons, have already been positioned, welded and attached on the port side of the ship. The sponsons, built by Fincantieri, are large watertight boxes made of steel that will filled with water, providing leverage during the parbuckling, and then emptied, providing for flotation. Another 9 sponsons still need be positioned prior to the parbuckling. In total, 15 sponsons will be installed to each side of the ship prior to refloating.
As gCaptain reported last week, there has been no damage has been registered to the marine ecosystem outside the area of the construction site and the water quality around the site remains consistent with other portions of the island.
The Parbuckling
parbucklingThe parbuckling is easily the most anticipated phase of the removal process. It will be performed using strand jacks which will be tightening several cables attached to the top of the sponsons and to the subsea platforms. This is a very delicate phase, during which the forces involved have to be offset carefully to rotate the wreck without deforming the hull.
The entire uprighting operation is expect to take a few days, and will not interfere with tourist season in Giglio.
Related articles:
In April, the largest subsea platform used to upright the ship was installed as salvage efforts move forward. Photo: Parbuckling ProjectCosta Concordia Salvage Update: Crews Install Largest of Five Subsea Support Platforms [PHOTOS] The Titan/Micoperi plan for the salvage of the Costa ConcordiaCosta Concordia is Piombino-Bound… Eventually The re-floating stage is illustrated in this picture, after the parbuckling phase has been completed and caissons have been attached to the starboard side of the wreck.TheParbucklingProject.com Is The Costa Concordia Salvage Website You Have Been Waiting For Costa Concordia cruise ship as seen on January 14, one day after it grounded on the island of Giglio. Photo: Wikimedia CommonsTitan Salvage and Italy’s Micoperi Win Contract to Remove Costa Concordia
http://gcaptain.com/costa-concordia-upright-by-summer-end/Costa Concordia Salvage
Plan Revealed [PHOTO TOUR].
By gCaptain Staff On May 18, 2012
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Representatives from Costa Crociere and the Italo-American consortium Titan-Micoperi today presented the details of their much anticipated plan to remove the wreck of Costa Concordia from the Island of Giglio using cranes and caissons to float the vessel.
As we learned weeks ago, Titan Salvage and Micoperi were selected to remove the stricken Costa Concordia from Giglio Island after beating out several leading salvage companies vying for the historic contract. Titan Salvage, part of the Crowley Group, is an American-owned specialist marine salvage and wreck removal company and is a world leader in its field. Micoperi is a wellknown Italian marine contractor with a long history as a specialist in underwater construction and engineering.
The requirements laid out for the job included refloating the hull in one piece while giving top priority to minimize the environmental impact, protecting Giglio’s economy and tourism industry, and maximizing safety.
To do this, Titan-Micoperi will set up shop on the mainland near Piombino, where equipment and materials will be stored and crews will be housed, therefor avoiding impact on the island’s port activities and as not to clogg up the island’s limited hotel accomodations. The consortium says the work will begin in a few days and is expected to last about 12 months.
The plan to remove the wreckage has been divided into four basic stages, descibed below in photos:
Stage 1:
After stabilizing the ship, a subsea platform will be built and caissons that can be filled with water will be fixed to the side of the ship that is out of the water
The tieback chains prevent the wreck from sliding as forces are applied
Meanwhile fabrication and then installation of subsea platform to support the ship
Stage 2:
Two cranes fixed to the platform will pull the ship upright, helped by the caissons (a large watertight chamber), which will be filled with water.
Install the flotation tanks on the port side by welding to framework which was previously attacked to the hull
Pulling machines are connected to pulling points on the subsea platform
With flotation tanks and pullers in place, we can begin to roll the ship upright
Stage 3:
When the ship is upright, caissons will also be fixed to the other side of the hull.
Stage 4:
The caissons on both sides will then be emptied, after treating and purifying the water to protect the marine environment, and filled with air.
Once floated, the wreck will be towed to an Italian port and dealt with in according Italy. Meanwhile, the sea bottom will be cleaned and marine flora replanted.
The plan was selected by an evaluation team with specialist representatives from Costa Crociere, Carnival Corporation & plc, London Offshore Consultants and Standard P&I Club, with the collaboration of RINA and Fincantieri, because it best fulfills the main objectives of the operation — removal of the wreck in one piece, minimal risk, minimal environmental impact, protection of Giglio’s economy and tourism industry, and maximum safety.
While the method has been used before to refloat ships, never has it been done to this scale. One thing is for sure however; whatever happens, the operation to refloat and remove the Costa Concordia from the shores of Giglio will be a historic one, and one the world will be keeping a close eye on.
http://gcaptain.com/costa-concordia-salvage-plan-revealed/
