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| Operation to Raise Stricken Cruise Liner Starts in Italy | Operation to Raise Stricken Cruise Liner Starts in Italy |
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| GIGLIO, Italy — After delays caused by a violent overnight storm, engineers began a costly, painstaking and potentially hazardous operation on Monday to raise the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise liner just off the coast of this Italian island, using huge jacks, cables and other specialized equipment to coax the 951-foot vessel off two granite reefs where it ran aground 20 months ago with the loss of 32 lives. | |
| Salvage experts have said the dimensions of the rusting vessel make the operation unparalleled in the annals of marine salvage, running up enormous bills as more than 500 divers, technicians, engineers and biologists prepared the ship for what is known as “parbuckling” to bring it upright and minimize environmental risks to Giglio Island, a marine sanctuary. | |
| “It’s an extraordinary operation that has never been done before,” Franco Porcellacchia, project manager for Costa Cruises, the ship’s operator, said at a news conference in Rome last week. | |
| The salvage attempt had been set to begin at first light, but a sudden storm prevented salvage workers from moving a barge and rubber booms close to the ship. | |
| The size and the location of the 114,500-ton ship — whose length is equivalent to around three football fields — are the most challenging aspects of the project, experts said. The vessel lies at an extreme angle about 50 yards from the shore. Preparations for the salvage operation took 14 months, and the cost has risen to $799 million from $300 million and could rise further, according to Costa Cruises. | |
| While Italian officials said rotation of the vessel had begun, any initial movement seemed virtually imperceptible, such were the huge forces of nature, gravity and human endeavor pulling against one another. But after about three hours, the appearance above the waterline of a narrow band of rust in part of the ship that had been submerged seemed to indicate that the vessel was slowly responding. | |
| Television crews and residents clustered on the island, peering at the wreck, almost within touching distance. | |
| The Concordia has been stabilized through anchors and cement bags, and steel platforms have been built underwater on the port side. Throughout the day on Monday, the salvage crew will use pulleys, strand jacks and steel cables, placed on nine caissons attached to the left side of ship, to slowly dislodge it from the two rocks where it has been laying. | |
| At about 20 degrees of rotation, the caissons will start taking in water. The downward force of the water will decrease the rotation speed and help complete the “parbuckling,” a word that originally referred to the sling used to lift a barrel with a double rope passed around it. | At about 20 degrees of rotation, the caissons will start taking in water. The downward force of the water will decrease the rotation speed and help complete the “parbuckling,” a word that originally referred to the sling used to lift a barrel with a double rope passed around it. |
| The operation will be monitored by engineers and remotely operated vehicle pilots from a control room on a barge close to the bow of the Concordia. If images or sonar show dangerous twisting, the technicians can adjust the process. | The operation will be monitored by engineers and remotely operated vehicle pilots from a control room on a barge close to the bow of the Concordia. If images or sonar show dangerous twisting, the technicians can adjust the process. |
| A command center on shore will closely follow the salvage operation. If the ship does not rotate, or does not rotate properly, another crew of engineers can intervene. | |
| “There are a lot of unknown facts, so we made a lot of assumptions,” said Nick Sloane, an engineer and senior salvage master with Titan Salvage of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “Some are conservative assumptions, and some are optimistic.” | “There are a lot of unknown facts, so we made a lot of assumptions,” said Nick Sloane, an engineer and senior salvage master with Titan Salvage of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “Some are conservative assumptions, and some are optimistic.” |
| The operation carries many risks, Mr. Sloane said, including unpredictable weather. Its second enemy is time: The longer the vessel stays where it is, the higher the risk is that it cannot be removed in one piece. | The operation carries many risks, Mr. Sloane said, including unpredictable weather. Its second enemy is time: The longer the vessel stays where it is, the higher the risk is that it cannot be removed in one piece. |
| Salvage masters and the Italian authorities have already prepared for possible complications. Most of the fuel was siphoned off within months of the shipwreck. But the floating city that once transported and entertained more than 4,000 people still contains chemicals, lubricants and diesel fuel from the engine rooms that could leak into the pristine waters for which Giglio, a popular tourist spot, is known. | |
| During the rotation process, the region’s environmental agency will take samples and monitor the water quality. Salvage officials and the Italian authorities expressed confidence that the operation would succeed and said that the chance that the ship could break apart was “remote.” | During the rotation process, the region’s environmental agency will take samples and monitor the water quality. Salvage officials and the Italian authorities expressed confidence that the operation would succeed and said that the chance that the ship could break apart was “remote.” |
| “The whole project inevitably had many questions marks, such an operation on such a big ship is unprecedented,” said Emilio Campana, the director of the research office for naval and maritime engineering at Italy’s National Research Council. “They need to extract the ship from the rocks and rotate it almost at the same time. They’ve never tried anything like this on an intact vessel. Imagine on the Costa Concordia.” | |
| There are many uncertainties about the structural damage that the ship has sustained and how the attempt to right it will be affected. | There are many uncertainties about the structural damage that the ship has sustained and how the attempt to right it will be affected. |
| “Ships are designed to float upright, not to lie down under their own weight. It’s an unnatural position,” Mr. Campana said. “The structure is broken and somewhat deformed. No one knows how it will react to the rotation movements.” | |
| North of Giglio, in a Grosseto courtroom, the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, is set to defend himself this fall from charges of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the vessel before everyone was safe. He denies wrongdoing and has said that his maneuver to take the vessel close to the shore after the impact saved many lives. He is the only defendant in the criminal trial; five others — a company official and four crew members — have pleaded guilty to reduced charges. | |
| The ship was carrying 4,229 passengers and crew members — almost three times Giglio’s 1,500 population — on a weeklong Mediterranean cruise when it went aground just as passengers were sitting down to a late dinner. | |
Gaia Pianigiani reported from Giglio and Alan Cowell from London. |