Costa Crociere and Titan-Micoperi representatives presented the progress of removal operations to the Commissioner for the Concordia Emergency Franco Gabrielli, the Observatory for Concordia Removal and the Mayor of Giglio at Civil Protection headquarters in Rome.
Costa Crociere is now in the process of completing the technical documentation that will be delivered in the next days to the Observatory to allow the authorities to evaluate the parbuckling project – the vertical rotation of the wreck – and give their approval for the operations to take place in the month of September.
Once the parbuckling is completed, it will be essential to assess the conditions of the wreck and evaluate any technical adjustments required, particularly on the submerged starboard side which is currently inaccessible in that it rests upon two cliffs of rocks.
Following the completion of such assessment, it will be possible to more accurately determine the timing of the subsequent phases, that is refloating and towing.
The Concordia wreck removal is a unique and extremely complex technical-engineering operation, a naval salvage operation like no other in history, involving the best international expertise, advanced technologies and unprecedented financial. Activities continue with about 500 workers and 30 vessels at work 24/7. Protection of marine ecosystem, safety of workplace and rapidity of removal project completion are the key priorities of the project.
[mappress] Press Release, July 17, 2013