MorganMars

Again, what a load of c***. They want to remove all the water before attaching all the caissons? How's that gonna work? Right now, there are several decks of non-watertight windows and doors under water, and one big gash in the port bilge. In order to get the ship where the main deck is above water (and take all those doors and windows out of the leakage equation), they need to put the caissons in place and pretty much empty them. The project estimated that the buoyancy of all the caissons would result in an 18 meter draft, well deeper than normal. Plus, the gash in the bilge is now covered by the port side caissons (though some of the missing port caissons may be where the gash is), so that may be too late to address.

 

Once again, laymen who gave the go ahead for an engineering project, now want to regain control of the process, without any idea of what is going on. Throw in Italy and politics and it just keeps getting better and better. As I said before, I'm actually a bit surprised that it's taken this long for these kinds of problems to surface, but it may have been because no one could tell whether the parbuckle would work or not.

 

Sorry for this and the rant on the "News" thread, this has really got me worked up today.

 

Sorry, Chengkp, didn't mean to stress you out.

Costa Concordia removal hits snag as captain seeks to shift blame

http://main.omanobserver.om/?p=77576

 

Rome — Work to remove the wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship — which has laid off the Italian coast since its January 2012 accident — was suspended yesterday as authorities decide which port should take the ship for dismantling.

 

Several local authorities in Italy are competing for the lucrative tender. Earlier this month, the government commissar overseeing the process, Franco Gabrielli, told parliament that the cheapest offer so far — $40 million — had come from Turkey.

The boat will be towed away if an Italian port is chosen for dismantling, or loaded on to a semi-submersible heavy lift ship if it is to be taken to Turkey.

However, if the Turkish port gets the contract, the wreck will also have to be emptied of all onboard liquids, to reduce weight.

Authorities said this should happen before all the tanks are attached, meaning work cannot proceed until the port decision is made.

The setback could jeopardise efforts to clear the ship before the weather turns cold, which is usually in September. Engineers would then have to wait until the spring of 2015 to continue their work.

Costa Concordia removal hits snag as captain seeks to shift blame

http://main.omanobserver.om/?p=77576

 

Meanwhile, captain Francesco Schettino, who is being tried for manslaughter, abandoning ship and other crimes, once again rejected the blame for the shipwreck, assigning it to other members of the crew.

“It’s all the fault of my officers. It’s stated in the maritime code.

We were half a mile away from the coast and at that distance the crew on duty is responsible for steering the ship,” he told the Il Secolo XIX newspaper.

“We found ourselves on the rocks and nobody said: ‘captain, we are very close, captain, watch out,” Schettino said, adding that he tried a last-ditch manoeuvre, which failed because the helmsman got it wrong.

He also said the ship’s owners told him not to launch an official distress signal from the onboard radio, but to use his phone, to avoid a maritime code clause stating that “those who help a ship in distress, can ask for a reward equal to the value of the ship.”

As to the charge of abandoning ship — which has earned him a worldwide reputation for cowardice — Schettino insisted that he fell accidentally into a lifeboat.

“The truth is that when a surface tilts beyond a certain degree, the force of gravity applies,” he said. — dpa

I have some reservations about bringing this up but I noticed a certian person who claimed that the parbukling would never work has changed his tune and now says that because of damage done by the parbuckling, the ship can never be refloated. Once a wingnut, always a wingnut.

 

I definitely thought about him, but was afraid to even go to the website. :eek:

Clive,

 

I wish now that I had recorded the number of pages views this thread had just before the parbuckling started. I know it was under 112,000 and now it is up to over 128,000! :eek:

 

MorganMars

Thanks for your recommendation BTW MM - still haven't been to bed yet. Though I am running on fumes but that's ok. Ya don't get to watch history every day.

 

 

I am so glad that so many stayed. It has been an amazing event and a joy sharing it with all of you.

 

Clive, I switched from coffee to ale, but it's 10:30 PM here, so I don't have to eat the whiskey and cornflakes.:D

 

My heart goes out to all those impacted by this disaster.

Have to leave to go work on a boat. Keep up the good work. Be back later.

Almost forgot and meant to post earlier, for those wanting to see the live feed in full screen, just click on the icon with the four arrows pointing outward on the bottom right of the feed and it will go to full screen mode. Move your mouse to the bottom of the screen to bring the tool bar back up and click the icon again to take it back down.

It's 1330 in Florida, USA and I have graduated to iced coffee. Sunset must be fast approaching in Italy.:(

It is so wonderful to be able to communicate with so many people from around the world. Even the sceptic in me is saying, "What a marvelous age we live in!"

[quote name='USNUZULOOSE']She is moving. I hope it is going the way they thought it would.[/quote]

Did you get your nap?:)

[quote name='CTH']The black oily tidemark under the bridge definitely rising, as is Balf/David's 'mushroom' antenna above the horizon.

Next thing to lookout for is the bottom corner of the stern-end vertical caisson/sponson, which @ the moment is just above the water line, to start submerging down into the depths towards the underwater platforms.

I'm probably being a little particular, but quite a few news channels are reporting that CC is to be 'raised' today. The viewers who don't know much about it will probably expecting her to be floating by this evening, & to be towed away shortly. They will therefore be suprised to find that if the parbuckle is successful, CC will be 'righted', but then finish up lower in the water than she is @ present. Big difference between 'righted' & 'raised'!!

Unable to connect to GiglioNews or the Parbuckling project.[/quote]

Yep, should be interesting when they all see the ship start sinking again as the sponsons are filled with water.

[quote name='clive and anne']She appears to be moving[/quote]

Definitely!

Check out all the vessels in the area on AIS. [URL]http://www.vesselfinder.com/[/URL]

Sunset is at 7:17 PM today in Italy, so if it takes them 12 hours we won't be seeing much after that.

A couple of other spots to watch are the top rail on the starboard side in relation to the red booms and the sponsons on port as they sink into the water and the top deck should also show a waterline.

Morning All,

 

Well, Reuters have spoilt us all, live video, audio, cameras panning round, we're not used to this!! Thanks to those who posted the links, & of course to Reuters!

 

Regarding the sound/audio, I'm hearing the sea waves, sea gulls, a distant helicopter, & presumably camera crews talking in the back ground. Do we have any idea where the microphone is, & will it pickup the strand jacks, cables/wires, pumps operating, & CC's hull groaning under the strain? Anyone heard any other noises so far?

 

I'm going to use the brown/black oily tidemark/waterline on the white paint just under the bridge window as a measure of movement, it comes into camera shot looking @ the front/bow of CC every so often. There's even a 'pause' button facility @ the bottom of the screen to look @ all the work done by Micoperi/Titan over the last year or so in much greater detail, fantastic!

 

No hull groaning, yet. I've been using that water line, too, so I know exactly what you are talking about. I am so glad they are doing the live streams for this!

Can somebody ask Nick Sloane in the ROC to move back a bit please, we cant see the bow properly. lol

 

Really, how dare he block our view. LOL

 

Actually, you will see progress sooner by watching for the angle between the red booms in the water and the top of the starboard side of the ship to change. Pick a couple of spots to take a sight on and watch. The bow is more of fulcrum point. Hope I'm explaining that in some sort of understandable way.

Press conference: Parbuckling has started. Changes will not be visible for awhile.

Maybe I can snooze for about an hour. Thank you for telling me.

 

Looks like some more people are getting off the ship. That's a good sign.

Anyone figure out when they will begin?

 

There is a live blog at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10311659/Costa-Concordia-salvage-operation-live.html

 

It says:

 

07.50 Here is the latest official statement from the consortium masterminding the salvage. No word yet on exactly when the operation will begin:

The salvage Master Nick Sloane and the technicians of the operations team are embarking to reach the control room (on a barge which is now positioned off the bow of the Concordia). In the meantime the operations for the positioning of the operating units are still ongoing. The connections with the control room have been activated and systems testing is proceeding. Once this operation is completed, the parbuckling can begin. There are no technical problems.

 

I wish they had these cameras running a while ago and we would have seen the extent of the work being done. I didn't realise how much was done

 

 

I am anticipating how amazing it is going to be to hear the groaning of the ship as they bring it upright!

Once they begin, I read that it is the first hour which is most difficult and dangerous to the operation. So if they would start, I can hang in for an hour. All night? No- didn't sleep much last night and two nights in arow is too much.If it were 6:30 am it would be one thing- i is 11:30 pm here.

 

Hope you are staying high and dry.

I wonder if the Guillotine is on Pioneer and that is why it is still so close.

I think Nick Sloane and his immediate team maybe on the pontoon with the ROC on and he has moved to the problem they have at the bow.

Still a lot of people walking around the wreck so it looks like it is still some time before the PB starts.

Keep going everyone, Sleep is an unnecessary diversion 06.22 here in UK.

Brilliant pictures from Rueters better than I ever hoped Thanks.

 

I'm wondering if those cables they are running from the bow are the feeds for the audio and video and if those cables have to be secured to the ROC.

I think that I heard them say something in the press conference about needing to get the barge in place. I'm trying to watch and see if they are mooring it at the bow.

That reuters link is great thanks. numerous camera angles, and they keep changing the view too. this is going to make it tough to want to go to bed.

 

Bed? Who's going to bed? Get some coffee on. This is going to be an all nighter! :D