Salvaging the Costa Concordia

"The only way that we could think of doing it was to right the ship the same way that it keeled over, just like a film on rewind."  Silvio Bartolotto, General Manager, Micoperi

Filippo Monteforte / AFP - Getty Images

The sunsets over the cruise liner Costa Concordia aground in front of the harbour of Isola del Giglio after hitting underwater rocks on Jan. 13.

And so a project of unprecedented proportions representing the largest salvage operation in history is set to proceed. 

The wreck of the luxurious ocean liner, one of the largest, most expensive in the world, lies on its side in the Tuscany region of Italy.  The cost of salvaging it will be in the neighbourhood of $300-million.  And it is set to begin a few days' time.  The timing is critical; a confidential report claims the wreck is at risk of sinking within a year because wave action and the ship's enormous weight were distorting the hull.

The salvage companies must secure the wreck to prevent it from slipping off the reef it is captured on, and then into deeper water.  The technical challenge is monumental.    Lying off the Tuscan island of Giglio, the wreck is a grim reminder of the hubris of human beings, in particular its captain, who paid scant attention to safety and regulations when he authorized an irregular 'salute' that resulted in the debacle that ensued.

Over four thousand passengers and crew were removed from the ship in lifeboats.  Some few people swam ashore.  Thirty-two people lost their lives on January 13 when the ship hit the reef where it went aground.  The Costa Concordia weighs over 44,000 tons, is 290 metres long, about the size of three football fields.  Representing an immense technical challenge to tow it to port and break it into parts.

Marine life on the seabed is to be removed before the work begins, then replaced, in respect of the natural environment.  Sixty poles are to be driven into the sea floor to stabilize the wreck from the land side and where a series of underwear platforms measuring 40 metres by 40 metres on the open sea side will be fixed.  Workers will weld metal tanks to be filled with water onto the ship sides and drag the wreckage to an upright position with two cranes.

The ship is to be refloated by emptying the tanks, pumping out the hull, and towing it to port.  "Once we right it, we need to refloat it relatively quickly", explained Richard Habib, managing director of the U.S. Salvage company Titan which co-jointly won the project bid with Italian off-shore rig company Micoperi.