After two and an half days of work, the operations to install the first of the 19 sponsons to be positioned for the refloating of the Concordia wreck were completed on Monday afternoon (April 28).
The sponson S13 – the biggest in weight and size – is now positioned on the starboard side at about 11 meters in depth from the artificial seabed on which the Concordia rests since the parbuckling completed in September.
The sponson has been unloaded from the barge on which it reached Giglio Island and placed into the water through the rotating crane of pontoon Conquest.
It was then completely filled with water in order to submerge it and allow connection, through a sophisticated automatic system, of the chains that keep it anchored to the wreck. Technicians have then partially emptied the sponson to make it lighter and give it the buoyancy needed to keep the chains tensioned.
Before refloating, another 14 sponsons need to be positioned on the starboard side and 4 on the port side of the Concordia. Sponsons will be completely emptied to provide the buoyancy needed to refloat the Concordia and prepare it for its transportation.
[mappress] Press Release, May 1, 2014