rubicondsrv

They don't have their facts straight. The crack is not going to be sealed.

 

They plated over most of the gash on the other side, it may also be done on the newly exposed holes to prevent movement of water that could cause stability problems.

 

They will want to keep the flooded spaces either completely full or empty to minimize free surface problems.

Interesting video thanks for the link. So I assume the sponsons on the CC were designed for a specific width if the plan was always to use the Dockwise Vanguard in order to accommodate the width of that ship.

 

Also, will it rest on a special cradle or blocks once on the Dockwise Vanguard to keep it from tipping over once the ballast is pumped out?

 

That was likely a consideration in the design, but availability of the vanguard for the job would have been uncertain until the contract was signed last week, I am somewhat surprised they were able to secure a spot on the vanguard so soon.

 

There will have to be cradles/blocks built on the deck to hold costa concordia securely, as a shifting load could sink both vessels.

 

It does remove the additional risks associated with a slow tow, where any deterioration of the hulk, or a parted line could make this mess far more expensive.

Why can't they move it sooner? I guess the search and the weather are the factors...

 

Heavy lift ships are contracted many months to years in advance, cradles will have to be built on the vanguard to hold the wreck, and it still must be made sound enough to avoid damage to vanguard.

 

The owners and insurers would much prefer dismantling the wreck in a less expensive location, especially considering the Italians are treating the insurers and carnival as a piggy bank and jobs program.

 

With dockwise involved, I suspect turkey or another low labor rate location may be the intended destination.

If you check out the recovery renderings

 

EDIT i take that back - took a a closer look at the project rendering files, S3 and S13 are also done with strand jacks. So basically everything welded to the port side has a chain or strand attached, and acts as a sling under the hull to the starboard sponsons

 

I wouldn't put but so much stock in renderings, things are constantly evolving.

 

However, using two barges with chain/cables between them to lift a wreck is a fairly common salvage method dating back several centuries at least.

I had wondered ever since we first saw the port side sponsons why they were spaced the way they are. Just figured it was structural. Then I saw the location of the damage to the starboard side and wondered if it is a coincidence that the gaps in the spacing line up with the damage? Has the plan always been to keep all the sponsons all parallel/lined up? Will that make it easier to attach the starboard sponsons? That is, avoiding the damaged areas??

 

It is likely planned that way to make attachment easier, and to keep the assembly stable.

 

Although the damage had not been seen on the surface before, it is something the salvage crew would have known about from early on.

 

Ships grounded for long amounts of time always experience extensive damage from waves, and other loads that they were not designed for.

Please remember this is still probably considered a crime scene. Once the investigation of the ship is concluded, I think it should be scraped in its entirety. To salvage and reuse any items would be ghoulish.

 

It is almost certain that some fittings will be reused somewhere.

 

But apart from corrosion resistant parts and items that have a core value for rebuilding, it is scrap after that much time underwater with so many different metals.

I am reading now that it will be spring before she is dragged away. I thought I read earlier that it would be 10 days? Which is it?

spring

 

Extensive repairs will have to be conducted on the starboard side to allow attachment of the sponsons, and ensure that the attachment is structuraly sound.

There were surveyors' date=' experts and salvage Masters, from various salvage firms, onboard within 2 days, to determine what the conditions were on board and to start putting together information to prepare their proposals and present their plans for salvage. This was started as the rescue/search for people was continuing.

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In that case the only one to blame is capt crash.

 

Media was claiming that salvage efforts including oil removal had to wait until the initial search for dead and evidence was done.

 

Not the first time they were wrong

On a different tack, Giglio News is reporting that Greenpeace is going to stage some kind of demo on 16th protesting about the time the recovery is taking. Well that should speed it up a bit.

 

 

The only people greenpeace should be blaming are capt crash, and those who delayed salvors access to the wreck in the first months.

 

After the first few days, salvage crews should have been onboard the wreck to start to stabilize it.

 

Titan, Micoperi, Smit and all others involved are doing the best possible with the condition of the wreck and remaining within a semi sane budget.

I think the holes are drilled to provide a breaking point/line in the rock.

 

AKK

 

that's what it looks like to me as well, it looks identical to the placement of holes in stone quarries to make clean cuts in rock with explosives or expanding agents.

 

(less holes with more explosives can be used if you don't care about shattering the rock, but that would complicate removal)

Interesting articale (old but lays out how the insurances firms are tied together) on how expensive the claims could get and all the different re- insurance companies involved!:eek:

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-23/concordia-cruise-ship-insurance-costs-may-reach-1-billion-moody-s-says.html

 

 

Another wreck to watch is MV rena, reportedly salvage costs there are approaching 200 million and the wreck removal hasn't even started yet.

[quote=Tonka's Skipper;34189180]Doc I don't think that spud barge is near big enough or the crane strong enough (like maybe 5 ot 10 tons lifting strenght max.) to help in the actual righting porcess. That is more a construction plafrom.

I would expect some really big heavy lift barges(like 500 to 1500 tons) and tugs to do the actual righting.

AKK[/quote]

They might use hydraulic pullers on the seabed as well, Titan has 300 ton chain pullers, and I would expect they could be adapted to work underwater.

How does this claim of "power loss" make any difference, even if he lost power, he was far too close to the rocks to start with, plus, the AIS track would show substantial drop in speed if power was lost, it didn't.

 

He had no business being that close to shore going that fast and without tugs, that is the main point of negligence.

here is a link to an article on cnn. i don't think this particular one has been posted. one thing that caught my eye was this quote:

 

"Once the giant ship has been refloated, it will be towed to an Italian port, probably in Tuscany, to be dismantled and disposed of according to local regulations."

 

Unless they already have a contract from a buyer for the hulk, that may change, once the wreck is stripped and inspected, it would not surprise me to see it towed to alang or similar.

 

Plenty of ships are claimed to be heading to western breakers only to be sent to the more economical but less politicaly correct beaches of india and pakistan.

What will they do with it once they've refloated it and once it's back in the dry dock? Will it be repaired?

 

Only half of the ship is extensively damaged and all though it will have suffered from rust, I'm not sure if it would be terminal and if it isn't, surely it would be cost effective to restore it?

 

Once it is stripped of items not belonging to the insurer, it will be sold at auction to the highest bidder.

 

Most likely the hulk will then be stripped of usable parts and scrapped, there is no reason it wold not be possible to rebuild, but it is most likely uneconomical.