The two salvage companies hired by Costa Crociere to float the Costa Concordia and remove it from the rocks off Giglio Island will begin work within the next few days, the company said at a press conference in Rome on Friday.
Titan Salvage and Micoperi in April won the bid to remove the shipwreck after filing a joint plan. Titan Salvage is a U.S. marine salvage and wreck-removal company, and Micoperi is an Italian marine contractor specializing in underwater construction and engineering.
The plan is to refloat the hull in one piece in order to reduce contamination risk.
The Concordia on Jan. 13 hit the rocky reef near the Tuscan coast a few hours after departing from Civitavecchia (the port for Rome) with 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew onboard. Thirty-two people died in the accident, and the ship has remained half-submerged just outside Giglio’s harbor.
Costa said that salvage operations will be divided into four stages.
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. A caisson is a retaining, watertight structure.
Two cranes fixed to the platform will pull the ship upright, helped by the caissons, which will be filled with water.
When the ship is upright, caissons will also be fixed to the other side of the hull.
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 accordance with the requirements of Italian authorities, said Costa. The company said that the project would take about a year to complete.
The plan includes measures to safeguard Giglio’s tourism industry and wider economy, said Costa.
“Salvage workers’ presence will not have a significant impact on the availability of hotel accommodations for the island’s summer season. The operating base will be located on the mainland near Piombino, where equipment and materials will be stored, avoiding impact on the island’s port activities,” according to a company statement.
“Environmental protection will have top priority throughout the monumental salvage operation, the likes of which has not been attempted before anywhere in the world. Once removal is complete, the sea bottom will be cleaned and marine flora replanted,” Costa said.
The ship’s fuel tanks were emptied earlier this spring.
“From the early stages of the accident, Costa Crociere has fully committed its resources, professional expertise and organization to minimizing the impact of the shipwreck on the environment and on Isola del Giglio in particular,” said Gianni Onorato, Costa Crociere president.
“As was the case with the fuel-removal operation, we have always worked to find the best possible and safest solution to protect the island, its marine environment and its tourism industry. We are now launching a salvage operation with characteristics and technical complexities that have never been faced before. There will inevitably be some unknowns in a project of this scope, but we are sure we have made the right decision and will continue to work to our best ability and on schedule,” said Onorato.
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