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Transportation

Cruise Ship "Costa Concordia" Salvage Attempt To Go Ahead 151

dryriver writes "A daring attempt to pull the shipwrecked Costa Concordia upright will go ahead on Monday, Italian officials have confirmed. The Civil Protection agency said the sea and weather conditions were right for the salvage attempt. Engineers have never tried to move such a huge ship so close to land. Thirty-two people died when the cruise ship hit rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio in January 2012. It has been lying on its side ever since. Five people have already been convicted of manslaughter over the disaster, and the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is currently on trial accused of manslaughter and abandoning ship. The salvage operation is due to begin at 06:00 (04:00 GMT) on Monday, and it is being described as one of the largest and most daunting ever attempted. The head of the operation, Nick Sloane, told AFP news agency that it was now or never for the Costa Concordia, because the hull was gradually weakening and might not survive another winter. Engineers will try to roll the ship up using cables and the weight of water contained in huge metal boxes welded to the ship's sides — a process called parbuckling. This procedure must be done very slowly to prevent further damage to the hull, which has spent more than 18 months partially submerged in 50ft of water and fully exposed to the elements. The salvage project has so far cost more than 600m euros ($800m; £500m) and could cost a lot more by the time the operation is complete."
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Cruise Ship "Costa Concordia" Salvage Attempt To Go Ahead

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  • Livestream (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    You can watch the salvage attempt live here: http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/videozone/livestream/MV_LIVESTREAM_CostaConcordiaRechtop

  • And another... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Guy From V ( 1453391 ) on Monday September 16, 2013 @04:17AM (#44861453) Homepage
    Neither of those were loading for me and/or seemed to be broken. This one works for me...just in case anyone needed more options: http://media.theage.com.au/national/selections/livestream-costa-concordia-salvage-4751321.html [theage.com.au]
  • For half that you could have had 100 sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads, they would have been quicker, not to mention more enjoyable to watch.
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by dryriver ( 1010635 )
      Crazy, crazy amount to spend, right? I wonder if this is an example of "Italian Efficiency"... =) =) =)
      • by Anonymous Coward

        I think it has more to do with the fact that no salvage operation that even comes close in terms of size of the ship to be salvaged has ever been attempted before. Based on this article, the South African guy leading the operation is quite the character:
        http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/13/world/costa-concordia-nick-sloane/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

        To quote: "..file on his phone or computer marked "blow jobs" with photos of all the ships he has detonated..."

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        The salvage is being done by Smit International from the Netherlands, a country widely regarded as efficient. Fpor more information Wikipedia article "Costa Concordia disaster", paragraph "Salvage" is a good start.

      • by mcgrew ( 92797 ) *

        500 engineers don't come cheap. Neither does all the fuel and equipment they'll need.

  • by RivenAleem ( 1590553 ) on Monday September 16, 2013 @04:56AM (#44861567)
  • are merely an extension of the McDuck, et al. sunken vessel refloatation innovation?
  • Interesting. But... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I'm interested in seeing this floating unfold.

    But, what I'd really like to know/see here on Slashdot is how exactly they are streaming this event on the web. From the cameras in use to the uplinks, to the media server software, to the CDN, everything. Basically a how-to for efficiently and cost effectively broadcasting a HD stream from a remote location to millions of live viewers.

    News for nerds. Stuff that matters.

    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      Basically a how-to for efficiently and cost effectively broadcasting a HD stream from a remote location to millions of live viewers.

      Problem solved by the porn industry years ago.

    • If we knew anything about the streaming system it'd be up here. As it stands the only extant "news for nerds" story surrounding the boat is the engineering challenge.

  • Put some fuel back in do you think it would start?

  • One of the things about this story that has been driving me crazy is the continual reporting that the ship "weighs" 114,000 tons. It's a big ship, but it isn't THAT big. The 114k number comes from the ship's gross tonnage, which, despite its name, refers to volume, not weight. The Costa Concordia's displacement, which is essentially its weight, is probably around 55,000 tons.

    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      An object that displaces 114k tons weights at least 114kT. If the object's volume is less than the volume of 114kT of sea water (in this case), it sinks. If its volume is more, then it displaces a volume of water that, when multiplied by its density equals 114kT. Some guy named Archimedes figured this out a while back.

      Science would be a lot more fun if we still could run naked down the street following major discoveries.

      • by wcrowe ( 94389 )

        Yes. But the Costa Concordia does NOT displace 114,000 tons. It only displaces about 55,000 tons. The 114,000 number is its gross tonnage [wikipedia.org], not its displacement.

  • The ship is now upright. It's not floating; it's sitting on the underwater platform built for it, sunk several decks deep, and still full of water. Next step is to patch the hole in the hull, get pontoons on both sides, and start pumping. Big job, but now a routine one for a salvage company.

    At least it's a job in a nice climate, near shore, in a friendly country. Most salvage jobs are in worse places.

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