Months after its deadly shipwreck, Costa Concordia will float again.
The plans to remove Costa Concordia were approved by Italian civil authorities Tues, May 15. Titan Salvage of the U.S. and Micoperi of Italy are the two companies that will attempt to refloat the ship.
Conference was held in Rome at the Civil Defense Department Tuesday, about the plans concerning Concordia removal of coast of the island of Giglio.
Costa Concordia Refloating is estimated to cost around $300 million, roughly half the value of the ship when it was built.
Operation in re-floating Concordia will be conducted in four steps
- First, the hole in the hull would be patched.
- Second step is operation of industrial-strength cranes, sitting on barges secured to the sea floor, would bring ship in upright position.
- Third, Water would be pumped out, and air would be pumped in.
- Then a fleet of tug boats would tow it away.
After the ship is removed, the seabed will be cleaned of remaining debris and measures will be taken to allow marine life to flourish again. Whole project is expected to take up to a year and once completed the ship will be sailed to a port and scrapped.
Captain of the Costa Concordia Francesco Schettino is still under house arrest at his home near Naples, awaiting formal charges that can include manslaughter.
There are two filed lawsuits in a conection with Concordia disaster seeking $700 million from Carnival Corp. & plc. Latest lawsuit was filed by 4 Hungarian crew members seeking $200 million.
