Cruise Ship Costa Concordia - MERGED THREADS

[DJBrookster]

[QUOTE="avb3"]

The only known similarity between this incident and the idiot maneuver by the Italian captain is the operator, Coasta.

Before condemning them outright and jumping to conclusions, lets just acknowledge that accidents and mechanical malfunctions do happen.

Even on sailboats, right?

Do we condemn all sailboat operators?

I hear what you are saying but at what point do we say, bad luck, neglect or even worse willing neglect! How many times does lightning have to strike before serious questions are asked and followed up?

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

CRUISE SHIP = Constant parties, it's probably conceivable that even the ship's Chaplain may get some coke on his clothing, this finding mean's zilch if not backed by evidence of the Captains involvement in usage or knowledge of usage aboard,

They didn't find it on his clothes, though. They found it IN (not on) his hair. He had to ingest it for it to get into his hair.

[avb3]

Originally Posted by DJBrookster

I hear what you are saying but at what point do we say, bad luck, neglect or even worse willing neglect! How many times does lightning have to strike before serious questions are asked and followed up?

Fair comment. I was playing devil's advocate a bit, as it is just to easy to jump on a company when more then on thing goes wrong.

I'm not saying they are not at fault, but maybe one should wait until investigations are over. Coasta Concordia appears to be a combination of company policy and showboating, so, who is to blame?

[St. Elsewhere]

Back to the Costa Concordia - Smit continues fuel removal with great progress . . . . .

Tuesday 28 February 2012
The oil removal activities recommenced on 24 February with the crane barge Meloria and bunker barge Magic Duba repositioned alongside the Costa Concordia just behind the stabilizer (large fin which is sticking out from the ship). Oil has been removed from three different double bottom tanks and from the double bottom sludge tank. Currently, using the hot tap method, two fuel tanks in the aft part of the vessel are in progress of being pumped. Outstanding work includes the removal of HFO from four double bottom tanks, the fuel storage tanks located in the engine room and the removal of sanitary residues.

[St. Elsewhere]

Where did Smit's crane barge go? As I am writing this the weather, click here, looks great. The live web-cam of the Costa Concordia this morning shows no crane barge. You would see its crane boom above the ship when its there. As time goes by, the information on these two links will update.

If you see the crane's boom, you will know that they have resumed activity. I do not think they could be all done yet. Yesterday morning they had this remaining work to do.

Outstanding work includes the removal of HFO from four double bottom tanks, the fuel storage tanks located in the engine room and the removal of sanitary residues.

[St. Elsewhere]

Smit's is continuing to remove fuel. They are now down to the last of it . . .

Name: COSTA CONCORDIA Costa Concordia - Type of ship: Passenger ship - Callsign: IBHD - vesseltracker.com
IMO: 9320544
Time: 01-03-2012 08:06:14 UTC

NEWS:
The oil removal activities recommenced on Feb 24 with the crane barge "Meloria" and bunker barge "Magic Duba" repositioned alongside the "Costa Concordia" just behind the stabilizer. Oil has been removed from three different double bottom tanks and from the double bottom sludge tank. Next, using the hot tap method, two fuel tanks in the aft part of the vessel were pumped out. Outstanding work included the removal of HFO from four double bottom tanks, the fuel storage tanks located in the engine room and the removal of sanitary residues. In the night of Mar 1 33 m³were pumped from three stern tanks onto the "Magic Duba", which followed 175m³ which were removed recently. The tanks serving the bow thrusters have been emptied too. The remaining three fuel tanks and tanks in the aft of the engine room are complicated to access, but, however, contain only little amounts of oil.

[hellosailor]

I wonder how long it takes before someone figures out they can sell some of that recovered fuel oil on ebay:

"One Ounce Bottle! Souvenir of Great Marine Disaster! Fuel Oil Recovered from Costa Concordia! Complete with Genuine Seal Of Authenticity!"

Of coure 10% of all profits go to the survivors' fund.

[St. Elsewhere]

Unbelievable ! ! ! !

Name: COSTA CONCORDIA Costa Concordia - Type of ship: Passenger ship - Callsign: IBHD - vesseltracker.com
IMO: 9320544
Time: 04-03-2012 09:21:08 UTC

NEWS:
The captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship was not wearing his glasses when the ship hit rocks and capsized in January, killing at least 25 people, his most senior colleague said. Captain Francesco Schettino, 52, who is under house arrest at his home near Naples, was unable to see properly because he had left his glasses in his cabin, according to his first officer. Ciro Ambrosio, who is also under investigation, told prosecutors: "When he took command of the bridge he didn't have his glasses with him because he'd left them in his cabin. He asked me to set up the radar because he wasn't able to see very well."

The news was greeted with incredulity by passengers and investigators gathered in the Italian costal town of Grosseto on Saturday for the first hearing into the tragedy.

"It was an incredible error - what kind of cretin could have done something like that?" said Sergio Amarotto, 67, who had been a passenger on the ship.



Read more: Cruise tragedy captain wasn't wearing glasses

Smit is close to the finish line . . . . .

Name: COSTA CONCORDIA Costa Concordia - Type of ship: Passenger ship - Callsign: IBHD - vesseltracker.com
IMO: 9320544
Time: 04-03-2012 11:01:20 UTC

NEWS:
In the afternoon of Mar 2 the salvage team completed the discharge of heavy fuel oil, diesel oil and sludge form the double bottom tanks of the "Costa Concordia". Weather permitting the crane barge "Meloria" will next be moved forward in her moorings in between the stabilizer and the large damaged area. An access hole will be created in the hull to allow the divers to enter the engine room spaces where the settling and service tanks are located. Once the connections have been installed, the contents will be transferred to the offloading tanker. Thereafter the contents of the sewage tanks will also be pumped out of the ship.

[hoppy]

Tonight the Discovery channel in in Sweden (Europe??) is showing a program about the Costa... Will be watching with interest to see the video they have and what they have to say about it all.

[MacG]

It is common use and practice to have the radar always stand by in working condition when in the proximity of land, harbours etc.

This whole issue is a line up of the one stupidity after the other.

[JoeDiver]

Originally Posted by MacG

This whole issue is a line up of the one stupidity after the other.

Accidents are seldom caused by one thing. It's normally a sequence of little mistakes that add up to one big one.

[David M]

It is normal to have the radar operating until the ship is tied to the dock. Distances acquired by radar can sometimes be helpful. This is less so with electronic charts now but the radar is always a good backup and if you know how to interpret a radar, the ranges are pretty reliable.

Agreed Diver, bad stuff seems to happen sequentially in threes. Stop any one of the three events and the big negative event does not occur...so it seems.

[MacG]

There was the first (official) hearing yesterday. I am quite curious what further surprises will be presented.

The more I see the more I ask my self how these people dig up their certificates.

[David M]

Mac...I hit the wrong button and added to your post, but I put it back as it was...sorry.

Most merchant marine officers are very competent. If not then there would be a whole lot more maritime disasters. Testing does not create perfection, it just weeds out those who are clearly not qualified and who do not have adequate sea time. The same applies to airline pilots. The same applies to any profession that carries a high degree of responsibility where you are responsible for people lives...like a physician as well.

People are not perfect therefore there is no such thing as creating any test that can sort perfect people from imperfect people.

[MacG]

Having radar on stand by is basic seamanship. Sometime ago a Dutch merchant ship ran aground in Norway. The captain was reprimanded for having only one working radar and not his harbour radar on. Both screens as it turned out were on too far a distance from each other.
Ok, Giglio is no Rotterdam, but it has a small port with lot's of active fishermen in small boats. At least to keep reckoning with those is not a luxury.

Next to that the first mate was on the bridge too: did he forgo to take his glasses too?

BTW an erring pilot is more than often a dead pilot. Take AF440 as an example.