The hulk of the 290-metre ship was righted and secured in a complex operation off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio last September and, with the arrival of calm summer weather, is now due to be towed to Genoa to be broken up for scrap.

The last of 30 stabilising devices or "sponsons" was attached to the wreck on Thursday and technicians will now start to test all the systems for the final refloating, the Concordia Wreck Removal Project said in a statement.

"Following installation of the last sponson, we can start the countdown to refloating and final departure of the wreck," Michael Thamm, chief executive of Costa Cruises, a unit of the liner's owner Carnival Corp, said in the statement.

The organisers said the last phases of the project to remove the 114,500-tonne vessel, the largest maritime salvage in history, would be explained in detail in the next few days.

A consortium including oil services group Saipem and the Genoa-based companies Mariotti and San Giorgio will carry out the dismantling.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is on trial accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. Thirty-two people died in the catastrophe.

Great time lapse

Here is another time lapse:
http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/2014-07-15-timelapse-video-s%C3%A5-meget-har-costa-concordia-rykket-sig?nidk

quote:

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Originally posted by FuzzyFish:
Am I the only one that thought she would float much higher than what it ended up being?

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JULY 15
1.00 pm : The underwater preliminary activities related to the beginning of the last phase of the refloating operation of the Concordia are in progress today. Technicians are indeed working to connect and tension the last 4 chains and 6 cables. The wreck is stable position and securely moored.

JULY 14
8.00 pm : The first day of the refloating operation of the Concordia has concluded successfully. Confirming technician’s estimations, the wreck is now afloat thanks to the buoyancy given by sponsons, 2 2 meters off the false sea bed, and it has been towed for about 30 meters eastwards. The wreck is securely moored and therefore the first phase of the refloating operations has now ended.
Around and under the Concordia operations are still on going to connect some chains and cables to the sponsons.

12.00 : The Concordia’s stern and bow are now detached from the false sea bed by about 1 meter. The wreck is floating thanks to the sponsons. Before being towed 30 meters East, the Concordia will need to be refloated of another meter. Technicians have now begun to tighten the chains on starboard sponson S14, as planned.

8.30 am: With the arrival of the ferry at 8.30 am the final phase of the lightening of the wreck has begun. Only less then 1,000 tonnes of weight remain, out of the initial 30,000 tonnes; as soon as this step is completed, the wreck can be lifted off the platforms. In a first stage, this will happen in the stern area.

Here are photos showing the difference between last Wednesday and today:

larger version

[ 07-21-2014: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

quote:

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Massive Convoy to Assist Wrecked Costa Concordia out to Sea

When the Costa Concordia finally leaves Giglio Island sometime early next week, it will be traveling with one of the most impressive oil spill cleanup and environmental disaster response convoys ever assembled.

...

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quote:

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Originally posted by Globaliser:
Scientific American reports:- I think the estimate of "30 million metric tons" of steel cable must be wrong. More likely to be 30 million kg, surely (= 30,000 tonnes).

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The milliion seems to be an error carried across from one website to the next

thanks for the link, I find
"Islanders have signed a petition asking the Italian environmental ministry to leave underwater platforms in place to create an artificial reef and underwater memorial for the 32 passengers and crew who lost their lives in the shipwreck. " rather interesting. It will attract tourists they will lose once she's gone.

July 22nd

Work is in progress to complete the last operations before the departure of the Concordia from Giglio Island, planned for tomorrow, Wednesday July 23rd. At present, the Concordia has a draft of approximately 18 meters, and technicians have to lower the last starboard sponson (S14). Welding is also in progress to position the bollards needed for the arrival of the ship in the port of Genoa.

http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/udland/2014-07-23-live-tv-costa-concordias-sidste-rejse?nidk

When the live tv is out, there is more to see here:
http://www.theparbucklingproject.com./tragitto.php

Best regards
René.

[ 07-23-2014: Message edited by: rem-dk ]

Yes, eerie to see no ship there now after all this time. The live stream was more interesting when you could see all the tugs.

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Originally posted by PamM:
You can watch a live stream here.

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It's quite a flotilla:-