Here's
The Ingenious $400 Million Plan
To Deal
With The Wrecked Costa Concordia
In
January, the cruise ship Costa Concordia struck a rock off
the shore of Isola del Giglio,
In
the Mediterranean .
30
people on board the largest passenger wreck of all time lost their lives;
Two are
still missing.
Nearly
a year later, the wreck is still sitting off the Italian coast, mostly
submerged.
Because
the Costa Concordia is in a nationally protected marine park and coral reef,
It must
be removed from the area before it can be dismantled, posing countless
difficulties.
And
recounted the remarkable salvage operation, which has a $400 million price
tag.
Not
only is it the riskiest, most complicated, and most expensive salvage plan
Ever
undertaken, but no one is sure if it will work.
The
ship weighs 60,000 tons and is filled with seawater.
It is
sitting on two underwater mountain peaks.
65
percent of it is below the surface.
The
wreck is an official crime scene.
The
operation, which will cost about $400 million,
Is
being paid for by insurance companies.
The
plan is to rotate the ship upright, and onto an underwater platform.
Then it
will float up, leaving more of its structure above the surface.
And it
can be towed away.
Before
getting on the inclined ship,
Workers
must take a 4-day mountain climbing course.
The
underwater platform is being built in northern Italy .
The
steel must be transported through the Adriatic Sea ,
Around
the boot of Italy , and up to the wreck.
The
steel that makes it up weighs three times as much as the Eiffel
Tower .
It will
be embedded in the seafloor.
The
drill bit will be enclosed in a large tube,
To keep
debris from contaminating the protected area.
For
now, the ship is held in place by
steel cables,
But
strong storms could dislodge it.
Then it would
sink to the seafloor,
Making
the salvage operation near impossible.
111
salvage divers are currently working on the salvage operation
Around
the clock, in 45-minute shifts.
They
attached the cables holding the ship where it is.
They
all live in floating barracks, next to the wreck site.
How
exactly will workers rotate Costa Concordia onto the platform?
The
plan essentially involves "weld[ing] a new ship onto the
shipwreck,"
Stahl
reports.
That
new "ship" will consist of huge, hollow steel boxes.
Called
sponsons, the biggest are 11 stories tall.
9 will
be welded onto the exposed side of the ship,
With
just 2 inches between them.
Then
steel cables will connect the sponsons to the steel platform.
Hydraulic
pulleys will pull the 'Costa Concordia' upright.
More
sponsons will be welded onto the other side of the ship.
Once
the ship is upright, the extra buoyancy should make it float.
The
ship will be floated next summer.
Once
the process begins, there is no way to stop it,
even if
something goes wrong.
The backup
plan is to break it up where it lies,
at a
huge cost to the local environment.
If all
goes well, the 'Costa Concordia' will be cut up for scrap, far from Giglio.
It is
so large, the process will take 2 years.
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