UPDATE 4
The wreck of Costa Concordia now sits on an even keel, partly on the seabed and partly on a steel structure constructed on the seabed that slopes down. It took salvors 19 hours to complete the parbuckling operation to righten the wreck, much longer than the original 10 to 12 hour estimate.
The wreck sits in water almost up to the level of the bridge. Images taken from the starboard side of the wreck, which hit the seabed as it capsized, shows extensive damage to the superstructure.
However, this is of no consequence as the wreck will be refloated at a later date and towed away for scrapping.
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UPDATE 3
Work has continued all day to righten the wreck of Costa Concordia and it now seems that it could last until the early hours of Tuesday morning, reports say. The start of the work was delayed by three hours in the morning due to bad weather overnight. However, since then the work has progressed slowly and it seems unlikely that the wreck can be put on even keel in the original estimate of 10 to 12 hours.
UPDATE 2
It took a pulling force of 6,000 tons to make the wreck move from the wreck where it had lain for the past 20 months, Sky News, the British satellite broadcaster, reports on its website, citing Sergio Girotto, an engineer.
After 6,000 tons of pressure were applied, Girotto said, "we saw the detachment" using undersea cameras. This was reached some three hours after the start of the operation.
The rescue effort will see the wreck gradually rotated and hauled 65 degrees back to upright position. Later, it will be refloated for towing to a yet undisclosed Italian port. The wreck will be then scrapped.
UPDATE 1
The wreck of Costa Concordia, which is slowly being pulled to upright position, shows damage to the areas that have been under the water for the 20 months that have passed since the 114,000 gross ton ship capsized.
Live video footage streamed by the London based Daily Telegraph newspaper on its website shows e.g. smashed bridge windows that had become submerged when the ship capsized. The footage also reveals the massive anchor chains that have been attached to the bottom the wreck in order to use technique called parbuckling to righten the wreck.
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Work to bring the wreck of capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia to upright position has begun at 0900am this morning local time on the island of Giglio in Italy.
The start was delayed by three hours due to thunderstorms on the previous night. Parbuckling means applying pressure to a wreck to bring it back upright. In the case of Costa Concordia, this will be done through chains attached to the hull and operated by powerful jacks on shore. A sponson has been welded to the port side of the wreck that will be filled with water to apply further pressure.
“All is well,” with the operation, Sergio Girotto, a senior engineer from Micoperi, the Italian salvage company which together with an American firm, Titan, is leading the salvage effort, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper in London, which follows the operation from Giglio.
“Our estimate of 12 hours (for the completion of the job) remains valid, although it will depend on the behaviour of the wreck.”
The progress of the operation will be constantly monitored by cameras attached to remote-operated, unmanned submarines. Sulphurous gas is likely to be emitted from the wreck as it is rolled upright, produced by the vast quantities of rotting food, drink and other supplies inside the ship, said Franco Porcellacchia, a senior project manager with Costa Cruises, the Italian company that owned the cruise ship. “That’s something that we will keep a check on constantly,” he said.
Costa Concordia ran aground in the evening of 13 January 2012 and the wreck has laid at an 80 degree list to starboard on the shore of Giglio. The 114,147 gross ton Costa Concordia became by the far the largest passenger vessel to be lost, overtaking the title from the 83,673 gross register ton Seawise University – better known as the first Queen Elizabeth of Cunard Line – that was lost in a fire at Hong Kong in January 1972.
The wreck removal operation of Costa Concordia is estimated to cost in excess of $1 billion. The cost will be covered by P&I clubs, which are mutual liability underwriters. The Standard Club, based in London, is the lead underwriter of Costa Concordia. The 13 largest P&I clubs that have their central organisation in London cover large claims such as thus through a pooling arrangement of risk, while part of the risk is covered by reinsurance.
