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UPDATE - Costa Concordia damage “in worst possible area”

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

Pictures of capsized Costa Concordia show severe damage to the hull on the port side, from midshipss towards the stern, but they do not cast light to the question has the vessel sustained damage to its bottom as well, notes Henrik Segercranz, technical editor of Cruise Business Online's sister publication Cruise Business Review. If salvage of the vessel will be attempted, it will be necessary to find out if the hull has suffered damage elsewhere too in addition to its port side.

It is also not yet known at this point if the watertight doors on board the ship had been closed in the course of the events on Friday night, he added.

A report in the Lloyds List shipping daily says that the ship is likely to be scrapped rather than salvaged and that the insurance industry expects a loss in the range of $600 million to $800 million from the accident.

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Having compared the photos of the hull damage of Costa Concordia to archieve material on the ship, our own technical editor Henrik Segercrantz comes to the conclusion that the more than 50m long puncture in the port side of the hull struck the worst possible area, involving three to four watertight compartments and damaging both the aft and forward engine rooms.

On a passenger ship two watertight areas punctured should still keep the vessel afloat, but Segercrantz stresses his analysis is very preliminary. "Area 3 in front of the machinery compartments, or area 1 behind, could have been damaged too, or there could have been problems with the watertight doors," he said.

It seems like the master made a manoeuver towards starboard when the ship hit rock, as the damage hole starts lower and ends higher nearer the waterline, indicating the ship was listing towards port while in contact with the rock. Then, as also reported, he turned the ship towards land, resulting the ship to tilt in the other direction.

As far as salvaging and repairing the vessel is concerned, this would be a big operation, if not impossible.

Segercrantz is a qualified naval architect with several years of experience in the shipbuilding industry.

Costa Concordia out of service maybe till next fiscal year, earnings loss up to $95 million

Details: Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

Carnival Corporation & plc says that Costa Concordia will be out of service perhaps into the next financial year of the group that will start on 1 December 2012 and loss of revenue from grounding of the vessel on Friday may reach $95 million.

“A damage assessment review of the vessel is currently being undertaken to determine how long it will be out of service. The vessel is expected to be out of service for the remainder of our current fiscal year if not longer. For the fiscal year ending November 30, the impact to 2012 earnings for loss of use is expected to be approximately $85-$95 million or $0.11-$0.12 per share. In addition, the company anticipates other costs to the business that are not possible to determine at this time,” the company said in a statement.

“The company has insurance coverage for damage to the vessel with a deductible of approximately $30 million as well as insurance for third party personal injury liability subject to an additional deductible of approximately $10 million for this incident. The company self-insures for loss of use of the vessel,” Carnival said.

Costa Crociere statement 15 Jan 2012

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

Genoa, January 15^th 2012 - We at Costa Cruises are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our hearts and prayers go out to everyone affected and offer the determined victims’ families her heartfelt condolences.
Over the past 48 hours, more than 1,100 Costa employees have been working tirelessly in the wake of this terrible event. We are working closely with the authorities to support ongoing search and rescue operations, and are focusing on ensuring that all guests and crewmembers return home safely.

Our immediate priority is to account for all passengers and crew and to secure the vessel to ensure that there are no environmental impacts. We have engaged the services of a worldwide leader specialized salvage company to develop an action plan and help establish a protection perimeter around the ship. It should be noted that the Prosecutor in charge has seized the ship and the DVR-- so called “black box” containing all navigation data and the vessel can be accessed by Costa only with permission from the authorities.

We are working with investigators to find out precisely what went wrong aboard the Costa Concordia. While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship’s Master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences. The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and the Captain’s judgment in handling the emergency appears to have not followed standard Costa procedures. We are aware that the lead Prosecutor has levelled serious accusations against the ship’s Captain, who joined Costa Crociere in 2002 as a Safety Officer and was appointed Captain in 2006, after acting as Staff Captain as well. As all Costa Masters, he has been constantly trained passing all tests.

In light of these accusations and the continuing investigation, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.

As we are learning more about the event itself and the evacuation, however, it is becoming clear that the crew of the Costa Concordia acted bravely and swiftly to help evacuate more than 4,000 individuals during a very challenging situation. We are very grateful for all they have done.

Costa is committed to ensuring that no such incident ever occurs again. Our number one priority is always the safety and security of our guests and crew and we comply with all safety regulations. (See background on Costa safety below).

Background on Costa’s commitment to safety

Costa complies very strictly with all safety regulations and our personnel are committed, first and foremost, to guest safety and security.

All crew members hold a BST (Basic Safety Training) certificate and are trained and prepared to emergency management and to assist passengers abandoning the ship with numerous drills. Roles, responsibilities and duties are clearly assigned to all crew members. Every two weeks all crewmembers perform a ship evacuation simulation. A lifeboat and evacuation drill for all guests is conducted within 24 hours of embarking, as required by law. Costa has a computerised system which ensures all passengers undergo this drill.

The skills of Costa crew are periodically tested by Coastguard authorities and an independent classification organization as per SMS (Safety Management Systems) requirements.

There are lifeboats and jackets on board in excess of the number required for all passengers and crew. Lifeboats are equipped with food and water supplies, first aid kits and communication and signalling equipment. All life-saving appliances are aligned to international standards and are subject to close, regular inspection by shipboard personnel and certification authorities. All Costa ships are certified by RINA and have been built to the highest standards and technologies.

Carnival plc stock 17.5% down in early London trade after Costa Concordia

Details: Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

Carnival plc, the British holding company in Carnival Corp & plc group, suffered a sharp fall in its share price at London opening on Monday, the first trading day after grounding of Costa Concordia on Friday.

At 0915 local time, the shares traded 17.5% lower since the opening at £18.55. However, they had hot a low of £16.00 earlier in the day.

The current share price means that the company has lost almost half of its value since a 52 week high of £31.71 early last year. The shares trade nevertheless well below their lows reached earlier in the economic downturn as in late 2008, they hit a five year low of below £13.00.

“Significant human error” likely cause of Costa Concordia disaster

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

A “significant human error” has emerged as likely cause of grounding and subsequent capsizing of the 114,5000 gross ton Costa Concordia on Friday night, media reports say.

“Owners of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship said ‘preliminary indications’ suggested the captain may have been guilty of "significant human error", the Daily Telegraph newspaper in London reported on its website. In the early stages after the incident, a major technical problem with the ship’s diesel-electric propulsion plant was suggested as a possible cause, but this now looks increasingly remote reason to the accident.

"We are aware that the lead prosecutor has levelled serious accusations against the ship's Captain, who joined Costa Crociere in 2002 as a Safety Officer and was appointed Captain in 2006, after acting as Staff Captain as well,” Costa Crociere, owner of the 2006 built Costa Concordia, was reported by Daily Telegraph as saying.

Prosecutors believe Mr Schettino had been intending to perform the nautical equivalent of a fly-by past the island's main port when the accident happened. It had apparently become a long-standing practice for the Costa Concordia to sail close to the island in order to greet its inhabitants with a siren from the ship. The tradition appears to have begun when the wife of a former senior officer lived on the island.

The tradition appears to have begun when the wife of a former senior officer lived on the island and he would take the ship close to Giglio to greet her. There were reports last night that the vessel's current officers had a friend ashore, from the Italian merchant navy, that they wanted to salute in a similar manner. As the ship approached the port from the south, it sailed too close to the coastline and struck a rocky reef, known to locals as "Le Scole", a few hundred yards out. Islanders said they had never seen the ship try to pass so close before. Ships usually pass by up to five miles away. A 160ft gash was torn in the £370 million ship's hull, causing it to take on large quantities of water in minutes and list violently. The 4,200 passengers and crew were told to abandon ship, Telegraph said..

Reports about this practise started to circulate in the media on Sunday after La Stampa, an Italian newspaper, reported it had obtained copy of a letter in which mayor of Giglio had thanked the ship's officers for sailing past the island at close range and founding its foghorn

Telegraph continued by saying that Franco Verusio, the procurator of Grosseto who is leading the investigation, said: "Schettino approached the island of Giglio in a carelessly clumsy manner. The ship hit a reef which embedded itself in the left flank, the ship listed and took on lots of water in the space of two or three minutes. Captain Schettino was in command at that point. "He was the one who ordered that course to be taken, at least according to what we have discovered. There was someone in particular that wanted to be signalled from the ship."

Mr Schettino, who is being questioned on suspicion of multiple manslaughter, claimed yesterday that the reef had not appeared on the nautical charts and had not been picked up by the ship's navigation systems. "We should have had deep water beneath us," he said. "We were about 300 metres [1,000ft] from the rocks more or less."

Prosecutors also accused Mr Schettino of abandoning his ship "well before" the last of his passengers, a criminal offence that can carry a sentence of up to 12 years in jail. The captain denied this, insisting he was the last to leave.

The Concordia capsized after the captain tried to turn around and head into the island’s port in an apparent attempt to make it easier to evacuate. Mr Schettino’s lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, said his client’s manoeuvre had saved the lives of “several hundred people”. The rescue of the Korean honeymoon couple and Mr Giampetroni, who had a broken leg, gave hope to divers searching thousands of cabins for the missing. The ship’s “black box” navigation system is being examined — with officials saying that the vessel was up to four miles off course.

The death toll from Friday night's disaster, one of the worst in the cruise industry's recent history, rose to six today after rescuers discovered three more victims, including the bodies of two elderly men wearing life vests inside the vessel. A further 15 people remained missing, Daily Telegraph reported.