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."
Re:this has me wondering (Score:5, Interesting)
It's also a lot easier and safer to cut up something of that size in drydock.
Ships of this size are rarely dismantled in a drydock. Usually they're run up on the beach at Alang or Chittagong and cut apart, mostly by hand. You can actually see these operations in google maps. Check the satellite view of Alang, Gujarat, India, and you'll see dozens of ships in all stages of disassembly.
Interesting. But... (Score:2, Interesting)
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.