By Eric Sylvers
MILAN--More than two years after it ran aground off the Tuscan
island of Giglio, the Costa Concordia is just a few days away from
finally being towed to shore, where it will be dismantled and
scrapped.
If the weather cooperates, the massive ship, which is more than
three football fields long and has 13 decks, will on Monday or
Tuesday begin its four-day journey to Genoa on Italy's northwest
coast. More than 350 engineers, divers and other specialists are
working to stabilize and move the Concordia, an operation that has
so far cost Costa Crociere, the Carnival Corp. unit that owns the
ship, more than $1.2 billion. After adding the cost to clean the
local area, the trip to Genoa and the dismantling, the bill could
top $2 billion.
Salvage workers this week detached the ship from the steel
platform on the ocean floor upon which it was resting. That set the
Concordia afloat for the first time since it ran into rocks in
January 2012 after sailing too close to the island in what was
supposed to be a spectacle for cruise ship travelers. The accident
killed 32 people.
In the past few days workers also secured chains to the
Concordia to strengthen its bottom, filled 30 large metal boxes
attached to the ship with compressed air to lift it from the
seabed, and moved it about 100 feet from the shore.
"For the first time we have total control of the ship, that is a
milestone for us," Franco Porcellacchia, Costa Crociere's project
manager in Giglio, said in an interview. "The trip to Genoa doesn't
worry us too much as it is certainly not one of the most delicate
parts of this operation. We picked the best possible route
factoring in safety and protection of the environment."
The route to Genoa, about 200 nautical miles, will see the
Concordia pass between the Tuscan archipelago and the island of
Corsica, though well clear of French waters. Ségolène Royal, the
French energy and environment minister, on Wednesday asked the
Italian government to guarantee there will be no environmental
risks to the French island.
The convoy accompanying the Concordia will involve about a dozen
ships, including two tug boats towing from the front and a pontoon
with a 200-ton crane. The convoy will be led by a marine
mammals-watching vessel ready to order the Concordia to slow down
if animals are spotted. There will also be vessels nearby to clean
up in case any of the fuel left in the Concordia leaks and Italian
navy ships to help keep any curious sailors at a distance.
After a heated, monthslong battle, Genoa won the rich bid to
scrap the hulking boat, beating other Italian ports such as
Piombino and Civitavecchia, which are closer to where the ship
sank. Italian authorities insisted the Concordia be moved intact to
port before the dismantling, thus minimizing environmental risks
near Giglio. But that doubled the time and cost of the salvage
operation, now one of the largest and most expensive at sea in
history.
It will take almost two years to dismantle the Concordia in
Genoa, an undertaking that will be led by oil services company
Saipem, a unit of Italian oil giant Eni, while the cleaning,
restoration and monitoring of the seabed where the ship has sat
will continue for five years, according to Costa Crociere.
In the months after the sinking, salvage workers extracted about
95% of the fuel, 250 cubic meters of trash and sewage, and 24
metric tons of material, but there is still plenty left on the ship
including pianos, furniture, broken plates, electronic devices and
the personal effects of the passengers.
More than 4,000 passengers and crew were aboard the ship when it
sank. One body has still not been recovered from the wreckage.
In a delicate operation in September, engineers righted the
Concordia and eased it onto the underwater platform. Since that
maneuver, known as parbuckling, crews stabilized the ship, made
repairs on the side that received the gash and drained tons of
water so the Concordia would be fit to sustain the journey to
Genoa.
The salvage operation is being carried out by Titan-Micoperi, a
joint venture between Titan Salvage, a U.S. company owned by
Crowley Maritime Group, and Micoperi, an Italian company
specializing in engineering and installation of offshore structures
and undersea pipelines.
Francesco Schettino, the Concordia captain at the time of the
sinking, is on trial and faces up to 20 years in prison if
convicted of causing the shipwreck, manslaughter and abandoning
ship. He is fighting the charges and has argued that his
navigational skills mitigated what could have been a worse
disaster. While he doesn't dispute that he left the ship well
before hundreds of passengers, he argues he did it to be better
positioned to help in the rescue operation. That the ship was far
off its predetermined course when it struck the submerged rocks
isn't in dispute.
Write to Eric Sylvers at eric.sylvers@wsj.com
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