Six months have now elapsed since the dismantling operations of the cruise ship of Costa Concordia have begun. The ship is at present moored at the port of Genoa Pra - Voltri where the first phase has brought to completion, everything regarding the furnitures and fittings, as well as anything that could obstruct the decommissioning scheduled to take place by May 2016 at the port of Genoa.
The previlege this time is for Italy to take up this job, particularly to Genoa city itself, which has never witnessed an operation at such a worldwide level and complexity.
The consortium "Ship Recycling", formed by Saipem by 51 percent and San Giorgio del Porto shipyard by 49 percent , takes care of the disposal of what has been for years, the flagship of Costa Cruises. The project for the dismantling and then the recycling of the wreck of Costa Concordia has four distinct executive phases expected to last for 22 months.
The holding company concerned with the business partnership between San Giorgio del Porto and Saipem has involved approximately 50 companies with various specializations and expertise. There are 175 persons working on board the vessel engaged in the relief phase, specifically included 220 engineers.
The first phase of relief has begun to bring about its results even in the eyes of industry experts. The hull was found approximately 2 meters away from the free surface. So far around 8,000 tons of bulky material, 4000 tons of electrical equipment and about 7600 tons of ferrous material have been removed.
The bridges 4-5-6-8 have been largely freed thanks to the removal of furniture, electrical equipment and so on. By the end of March 2015 this first phase will be completed.
In the second phase, the wreck will be transferred from the breakwater Voltri Molo Ex Superbacino (about 6 miles away from its present location), where the dismantling of the structures of the bridges will take place.
The third phase consists of the preparations for the transfer of the wreck in a Dry-Dock (the #4), including the removal of floating caissons and cleaning activities of galleys and cold rooms present at bridge " 0 ".
Towards the end of the current 2015 this last operation is expected to be carried out for the actual dismantling or removal process starting from the upper decks up to the real whole vessel.
During the fourth and final phase, the whole operations are due to be performed in a segregated manner inside the Dry-Dock, until the complete dismantling of the wreck has been brought to completion.
About 50,000 tons of material will be totally recycled, and then 80% of the ship will be recovered.
Value of the transaction ( $ 104 millions) and is fully funded by the Costa Group and the Group Insurance; but, as I said earlier, the operation is not merely to tear the ship, but how to demolish it piece by piece, and recover much material as possible.
The bulk is made up of steel and different metals, about 50 thousand tons that will be sold out at the steel market as "scrap iron" at a figure now estimated at around 270-280 euro for ton (total, 14 million euro).
The President Port Authority of Genoa, Luigi Merlo, described the operation during an interview with the TV programme "Porta a Porta" on national TV channel Rai 1,as «the best action from the environmental point of view thanks to its technological excellence, ship dismantling ever performed in the world».
-However, the whole interview is available HERE.
-The video material produced by an unknown person is yet unpublished, and seems that that person has evaded security control and resumed the current phase (March 2015) of the work on the wreck available HERE.
-The unpublished photos taken by an unknown person who seems to have evaded security control and then took pictures of the current status (March 2015) of the work on the wreck available HERE.
