The dismantling project of the ill-fated Concordia wreck and the related recycling operations are quickly progressing, according to the Ship Recycling Consortium, which expects the ship’s deck 0 to re-emerge soon.
About 200 technicians are now working on the wreck and cutting decks – from 5 to 3 – while strip out operations continue to remove internal fitting with work about to be completed on deck 2 and 1.
As the weight of the wreck becomes lighter, it has been possible to remove the third sponson (S3) in addition to the previous two (S1 and P1) already removed. Moreover, the sponsons S2 on the starboard side, and P2 and 3, on the port side of the ship will be disconnected in the upcoming weeks.
Simultaneously, operations are in progress to restore autonomous buoyancy to the hull in order to allow for the removal of all the sponsons and subsequent transfer of the wreck to dry dock, where the final demolition will take place, the consortium said.
The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship was towed to the Port of Genoa for dismantling in May 2015.
The demolition work that is expected to last for 14 months, ending most probably in the summer of 2016, is led by two Italian firms-Saipem and San Giorgio del Porto, within the consortium.
The work to dismantle the ship is estimated to cost EUR 100 million.
Costa Concordia sank in January 2012 killing 32 people. The grounding of the cruise ship, carrying 4,252 people at the time, is believed to had been caused by the captain’s recklessness, as the ship came too close to the Giglio island where it got stuck and later collapsed.
World Maritime News Staff; Image Courtesy: Ship Recycling Consortium