Cruise Ship Costa Concordia - MERGED THREADS

[HappySeagull]

...He couldn't launch lifeboats doing 12 knots. Without main engines available, could not do more than coast or attempt to "turn" the speed out of her... not sure how useful this would be this isn't a sailboat after all....and it seems it was calm. No wind to slow her no current that seems plausible, so he was coasting along deciding where and how to beach her .
Bowprops are useless beyond three knots....I wonder still if there was enough power to use bowprops.... according to a plan of the Costa Victoria a somewhat similar ship... power can be shunted quite handily. There is smoke from a funnel even as she was laid over, as was noted before.

. Wasn't it too deep to anchor where the ship did her swing to shore?

[goboatingnow]

The main mistake was grounding her on the shelf north of the port, I suspect its not where he wanted to end up. I suspect they went past the port still going faster then he expected. The "anchor" routine of turning her was never executed and they tried to get back using thruster. The subsequent grounding in my view ( and many on gCaptain) was that that caused her to list even mor sand essentially "fall over" for lack of water.

Had he anchored in 100 metres in from of the port, she would have listed to about 15-20 degrees and no more. The passengers would have got off and all would be well.

Dave

[HappySeagull]

..it's a hard call.If she'd sunk there in the hrbr?say,despite calculations If the WT bulkheads were open and didn't close properly...and that's not so uncommon, I think? We had an incident here with a ferry...much older ship, though.
I wish the Bu**er had not been so Cavalier at the helm. It's looks to be a peculiar approach he took. if he wanted to pass close to the town.It feels all wrong to me. The steered arc of track is on the wrong side of the point...like he was aiming for the point and not past it....

[goboatingnow]

yes i agree a strange approach, a very shallow angle too. no doubt somebody goofed. ( under statement of the year!),

Dave

[St. Elsewhere]

We who operate small craft become quite familiar with the effect of wind, current, and the momentum of our boats while approaching docks, and hazards such as areas that may contain rocks. Even in our light vessels most will approach such hazards with shallow angles of approach and/or slow speeds.

Knowing that 114,500 tons of vessel moving at 15 knots is on the order of infinitely more momentum than we experience, it is incomprehensible that they would run such a behemoth directly toward Isole Le Scole and attempt a 45 degree turn onto a course within less than a ship length from the shore.

After impact things become quite difficult to predict. One of the lessons learned from this incident may be that the huge 100,000 sq ft sail area of these new cruise ships becomes controlling with no propulsion, and breached watertight compartments that run the full width of the ship. Once Concordia exhausted its momentum just north of Giglio Porto, the 15 knot wind (and possibly tidal current) was enough to push it in the opposite direction at about 0.5 knots. With a center of effort 50 feet above the waterline, once the hull contacted the bottom some 30 feet below the waterline, there was then an 80 foot moment arm to the center of effort and sufficient energy to cause Concordia to heel with the wind shifting the flooding to the landward side and putting the gunwales below water.

Future crews may be taught to launch life boats prior to a beaching of the ship.

[justwaiting]

Originally Posted by St. Elsewhere

Future crews may be taught to launch life boats prior to a beaching of the ship.

Perhaps one of many lessons to be learnt to how to handle the aftermath of criminally stupid seamanship. Hopefully we see that any ships contact maritime/ rescue services immediately that an incident has occurred even if a damage assessment has not been completed. The whole timing of notification, alerts and preparation to abandon ship stinks.

BTW thanks for doing such a good job of keeping us informed

[St. Elsewhere]

After two weeks of delay due to weather, the pumping begins. Smit expects to pump 24/7 with five days of good weather expected.

More here . . .
Fuel Removal Begins On Grounded Italian Cruise Ship Costa Concordia | Fox News

[SabreKai]

Originally Posted by Astrid

If Costa raises the wreck and tows it to one of the large ship scrap yards in Italy, it could take two to three years to break the ship up for scrap (it is not unusual for it to take longer to break a ship up than it took to build her in the first place).

Scrapping on site is much more difficult and environmentally hazardous and could take even longer. It took a Norwegian salvage company nine years to break up and scrap the battleship Tirpitz on the site of her sinking near Håkøy Island.

Astrid, if they do decide to chop her up, it will be lot quicker than we can imagine. Things have changed a lot in the scrap business. Tirpitz was salvaged in the end 40s and early 50s, but the technology has changed a heck of a lot. Believe me, I was certainly surprised to see this video

Salvaging the TK Bremen - YouTube

There's another one on Youtube about the scrapping of the former Wappen Von Hamburg, a cruise ship built in the mid 60s for the Baltic runs.

check this out

Mercator_0001.wmv - YouTube

When they start ripping the Costa apart it won't be pretty but it won't take long either.

[HappySeagull]

Originally Posted by St. Elsewhere

etc..

Once Concordia exhausted its momentum just north of Giglio Porto, the 15 knot wind (and possibly tidal current) was enough to push it in the opposite direction at about 0.5 knots etc

aah,well, thanks. I haven't seen a mention of what the wind was doing, 15 knots onshore (maybe a night breeze from Italy's hills? ) ...might serve on such a monster. My tides (an xtide derivative) has an ebb tide less than a metre from highwater at 2000. That would seem to be of no consequence in a channel as wide and deep as this, per currents but it wouldn't be doing her any good once she was aground!

[JayCall]

I have been watching the demolition of a football stadium (Husky Stadium, U of Washington) and they took down the steel framework seating about 30,000 in about 4 days using those hydraulic nippers. The basic framework was like 12" box steel beams. In the four days, down and cut up into 6' pieces using two track machines with the nippers. Always thought that would be a good job for someone with anger management issues. Amazing how much destruction can be accomplished is a very short period of time.

[St. Elsewhere]

This from Smit today . . .

Monday 13 February 2012
Yesterday afternoon, at 16.55, the first oil was removed from the Costa Concordia. In line with the presentation made on the January 28, the initial operation is focused on the forward fuel tanks. Currently four of the six forward fuel tanks have now been installed with a sealable flange. As operations continue, the remaining tanks will also be prepared.
The first tank which was connected to the pumps is relatively small and located on the port side of the Costa Concordia. The weather forecast for the coming days looks good and pumping will continue around the clock as long as the favorable conditions continue.

[hpeer]

FWIW, apologies if posted previously.

Cruise industry announces new passenger emergency drill policy

Cruise industry announces new passenger emergency drill policy


The new muster policy is effective immediately and exceeds existing legal requirements. It calls for the mandatory muster of all embarking passengers prior to the cruise ship's departure from port. On rare occasions when passengers arrive after the muster has been completed, passengers will be promptly provided with individual or group safety briefings that meet the requirements for musters applicable under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).

American Salvage Association members to bid for removal of Costa Concordia

American Salvage Association members to bid for removal of Costa Concordia

Seven of the ten companies invited to submit plans to remove the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia are members of the American Salvage Association (ASA).

"While terribly tragic, the capsizing and grounding of the Costa Concordia underscores the need for a professional salvage response to this very complex challenge," said ASA President Tim Beaver. "But ASA salvors are some of the very best in the world and I have no doubt the selected company will perform to its utmost capability," he continued.

Costa Cruises said last week that following the appointed of Smit Salvage BV to remove the fuel from the Costa Concordia, it had established a technical committee to assist it in defining a vessel removal plan. The committee, comprising representatives of Costa Cruises, Carnival Corporation & plc, Fincantieri, RINA and industry experts in academia, will work in coordination with the competent authority .

Costa Cruises said it had launched a tender, calling on 10 companies around the world for the presentation of an operational plan for the removal of the entire hull of Costa Concordia.

Costa Cruises said the invitation was addressed "to the largest and most experienced companies in the world, capable of performing the operation in the shortest possible time, ensuring maximum safety and minimal environmental impact."

The companies invited to tender are:


1.Smit Salvage BV,
2.Svitzer Salvage BV,
3.Mammoet Salvage BV,
4.Titan Salvage,
5.Resolve Marine Group Inc.,
6.T & T Marine Salvage Inc.,
7.Donjon Marine Inc.,
8.Titus Blacks Ltd,
9.Fukada Salvage & Marine Works Co. Ltd. ,
10.The Nippon Salvage Co Ltd.

Plans must be submitted by early March 2012. Costa Cruises, which will evaluate them together with Italy's Scientific Committee on Civil Protection, with a view to selecting the best plan by the end of March 2012.

[MacG]

Mammoet and Smit are both the best equipped and experienced. The question is that nationalistic feelings of some kind might play a certain role in the tender of this kind is clearly not there; that they invited an international array of companies shows that.
The wreck is a huge source of forthcoming pollution if work not executed in navy operational style. The removal of the wreck itself is just the least difficult operation. It is the art to do this with no spills.

[St. Elsewhere]

This report means that they are removing fuel at 1400 to 2800 gallons per hour, 24 hours per day. That's better than 30,000 to 60,000 gallons per day. If true, they are making great progress . . . .

Name: COSTA CONCORDIA Costa Concordia - Type of ship: Passenger ship - Callsign: IBHD - vesseltracker.com
IMO: 9320544
Time: 13-02-2012 17:32:46 UTC

NEWS:
The first tank which was lightered starting on Feb 12 at 4.55 p.m. was a small tank in the port side foreship region. The receiving tanker was the Italian flagged "Elba". Weather forecast was good for the next days, and pumping was to be continued at a rate of 5-10 tons per hour around the clock as long as weather was allowing. In the further process also a barge to receive the waste on board was to be brought alongside.

[St. Elsewhere]

This report indicates that they are pumping a little more than 2100 gallons per hour, or 50,000 gallons per day. It looks like they will do very well, if the wreckage remains stable.

Name: COSTA CONCORDIA Costa Concordia - Type of ship: Passenger ship - Callsign: IBHD - vesseltracker.com
IMO: 9320544
Time: 14-02-2012 20:21:47 UTC

NEWS:
Tank 2 was completely emptied on Feb 14 at 1.35 p.m. The tank had contained 410m³ heavy fuel. Smit moved on to tank 3 which has the same size. The oil was lightered with an average of 8 m³/h. Meanwhile steel was heard breaking inside the wreck, creating fears the vessel might break apart.