The removal of the wreck of the Concordia was an extremely complex technical engineering feat – considered the most daunting salvage ever attempted on a ship of its size – with the deployment of the finest international expertise and state-of-the-art technology.
The priorities of the project were clear from the outset: respect for the environment, workplace safety and protection of Isola del Giglio’s socio-economic fabric.
After reviewing the bids of the six finalists, Costa had awarded the tender for the contract to remove the ship in one piece to the international consortium Titan-Micoperi Srl, a joint venture between Titan Salvage, a U.S. company owned by Crowley Maritime Group and a world leader in the recovery of wrecks, and Micoperi, an Italian company specializing in engineering and installation of offshore structures and undersea pipelines.
The wreck removal project includes contributions from some of the world’s top technical engineering experts, notably leading international naval and offshore engineering, architecture and design firms such as Ceccarelli Yacht Design, Studio Tecon of Milan, Spline of Venice, Overdick of Hamburg and the Dutch underwater solutions provider Disa International. All the work involved is being performed by industry leaders like the Italian companies Fincantieri, Cimolai, Rosetti, Trevi, Fagioli and Nuova Olmec.
The salvage plan can be divided into 5 phases.
- Stabilization (completed)
- False sea bed and sponsons on offshore side (completed)
- Parbuckling (completed)
- Survey of the wreck and installation of 15 sponsons on the inshore side and the last four on the offshore side (completed)
- Refloating (completed)
- Transportation and dismantling/recycling
In the occasion of this big event, Vector provided for the set up of the press room, audio and video services, technical support through electrical, IT and communication infrastructures. In this way journalists coming from all over the world had the essential instruments to stay connected with their newspapers outside Isola del Giglio and had the possibility to follow live all the refloating and removal operations from the conference and press rooms set up for the occasion.
Once afloat, the wreck of the Concordia has been transported to its final port of destination for dismantling and recycling, namely Genova Voltri. This operation was directed by Titan Micoperi, the marine salvage consortium in charge of the removal of the Concordia.
The wreck reached Voltri port on Sunday, July 28th. It has ended the journey which brought it where it was born 9 years ago. Also here, Vector has set up a press area where the journalists could follow the docking operations.
