Raising the Costa Concordia
Engineers successfully attempted one of the most expensive wreck removal operations in history: raising an Italian cruise ship that capsized in 2012.
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Readers, this event has ended, but we thank you for your overwhelming engagement and comments throughout the Parbuckling Project. Here is a link to the official website where you can learn more: www.theparbucklingproject.com. Don't forget to follow @Reuters on Twitter for more live events and news. -
READER COMMENT: Great stuff, very good job by the "parbucklers", great coverage by Reuters. That sort of things should be covered like this one more often. It shows the complexity of certain jobs which otherwise would be unknown or trivialized by common media. Kudos to Reuters. -
Reuters photographer Tony Gentile writes about his work to produce the time lapse video of the Costa Concordia:After receiving the assignment to cover the Costa Concordia “parbuckling”, I had the idea to create a timelapse. Definitely not an original idea because in Giglio, there were more cameras shooting timelapses than there are island residents. A timelapse is a cinematographic technique used to shorten the action.It allows us to see very slow actions or natural events that we cannot see naturally using the technique of shooting pictures at regular intervals. Then we edit to create a video of about 24 or 25 frames per second. In this way you can see the action accelerate.
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The sounds of crew cheering over echoes of ocean waves on Giglio. A long project, almost a year of planning, has passed through the most dangerous stages. The crew of Parbuckling Project will continue to the next phases of the journey: stabilizing the cruise ship for further monitoring and investigation.
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READER COMMENT: Thanks so much Reuters for wonderful job today! I was riveted to the computer watching it, and fascinated with all the expertise, skill, and dedication! Again, Reuters you have done a marvelous service for us viewers!
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la nave ha rotado de 35 grados, todo sigue según planes. Proxima cita a las 4by Parbuckling Project via twitter 9/17/2013 2:17:24 AM -
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READER COMMENT: If you look at the aspect of the ship, you will see that the deck with wings will be just above water-level. They are actually submerging many of the passenger decks (including the life-boat) deck) to get the ship on to the false "sea-floor". The bottom of the port-side caissons is about the same level as the keel, so the ship will rest and be prevented from rolling further by these caissons
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Latest update from the Parbuckling Project:: The ship has rotated approximately 25° with respect to the starting position. This means that the operation has gone beyond the point at which the vessel no longer needs to be pulled by the strand jacks and can now rotate under its own momentum and under the weight of the ballast water contained in the sponsons.
The actual parbuckling itself – the uprighting of the ship – is expected to take a whole day,
with the operation likely to last between 10 and 12 hours; this is because the wreck will have
to be rotated very slowly and vigilantly, with constant monitoring of the process. The strand
jacks will be used to pull the steel cables attached at one end to the nine central caissons and
at the other to the underwater platforms on which the wreck will come to rest once it is
vertical. This is a very delicate phase, during which the forces involved have to be offset
carefully to rotate the wreck without deforming the hull. Upon conclusion of this phase, the
wreck will be resting on the false bottom at a depth of about 30 meters. -
Here is the latest update from James Mackenzie, Reuters reporter covering the project:
11 towers with hydraulic mechanisms are in control of 205-kg (450 lb) cables under the Costa Concordia. They are attached to its side to slowly rotate the ship. The goal is to place it on six specially built platforms drilled into the granite rock bed.
As the sunken side of the vessel inched out of the water of the course of the day, exposing the soiled underbelly of a ship the length of three soccer fields, a team of engineers who have been working on the project for most of the past year eased the pressure from the cables and prepared for a second phase.
The second phase will occur when huge tanks fixed to the ship's exposed side begin filling with water, using the effect of gravity to pull the ship vertical. Oil booms surround the vessel to intercept waste water and oil trapped in the ship, but no significant environmental damage was observed in the first hours of the operation.
Once the Concordia is upright, salvage teams will spend a months stabilizing it and preparing for it to be re-floated with the aid of additional giant buoyancy tanks before it is towed away for scrap. -
The capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia lies on its side during the "parbuckling" operation next to Giglio Island. September 16, 2013. Salvage crews shifted the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship slowly off a rock shelf on Monday in a painstaking process that looked set to continue into the early hours of the morning. REUTERS/Tony Gentile
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Costa Concordia has rotated more than 25º with 40º remaining until ship fully uprighted. Final 40º rotation should take 4 more hours.by CruiseGuy via twitter edited by Margarita Noriega (Reuters) 9/16/2013 10:42:25 PM -
READER COMMENT: Reuters has given us an amazing window to view this entire operation. Very seamless, stable, accurate. By doing this, you have allowed us to be part of such a momentous situation - and to be as close as possible to the action. With great appreciation, I thank you.
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Looks like we are getting another update from the official engineering team shortly. Apologies in advance for the translation issues. Sometimes we have an English translator, sometimes we don't. Either way, we'll be able to get you a translation shortly.
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Una vez despegado de las rocas, el #Concordia ha rotado 10º. Las válvulas alcanzarán el nivel del mar en cuanto se consigan 20º.by Parbuckling Project via twitter 9/16/2013 4:19:59 PM
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Titan Micoperi ha anunciado un movimiento de rotación uniforme en el casco. Se ha registrado una rotación de unos tres grados.#Concordiaby Parbuckling Project via twitter 9/16/2013 11:47:32 AM
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Titan Micoperi a annoncé un léger mouvement de rotation de la coque, avec une rotation d’environ trois degrés. #Concordia #Parbucklingby Parbuckling Project via twitter 9/16/2013 11:47:03 AM
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As far as preventing accelereation goes, the engineers explain it like this. Once the ship rotates about 20 degrees, the force applied through the cables pulling
the Concordia upright will gradually reduce and the tanks (called sponsons) on the side which is being lowered towards the water will fill with sea water. This will help stabilise the ship because the weight of the water entering the tanks will push it downwards on to the underwater platforms built to support it -
Titan Micoperi ha annunciato un movimento di rotazione uniforme dello scafo. Si è registrata una rotazione di circa 3 gradi. #Concordiaby Parbuckling Project via twitter 9/16/2013 11:46:42 AM
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Titan Micoperi announced evidence of a smooth rotation movement of the hull, with a consequent rotation of about 3 degrees. #Concordiaby Parbuckling Project via twitter 9/16/2013 11:46:17 AM
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READER COMMENT: Here is an animation which shows the stages... video.repubblica.it
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Great slideshow here - Costa Concordia from above uk.reuters.com -
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The so-called "parbuckling" operation will see the ship rotated by a series of cranes and hydraulic machines, pulling the hulk from above and below and slowly twisting it upright.
Once upright, the vessel will be stabilised before being towed away for scrap, probably next spring. -
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Afghan security forces kill senior al Qaeda leader al-Masri
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