Salvage experts in Italy have finished the operation to raise the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia.
The ship was pulled upright by a series of huge jacks and cables to leave it resting on underwater platforms. The operation was one of the most expensive of all time. 56 giant pulleys hauled the vessel back to an upright position in a 19-hour operation exposing a section of the white ship’s exterior that was stained by rust and algae after months under water. By 4am on Tuesday morning, the 950-foot-long, 114,000-ton vessel had been pulled through 65 degrees to stand on a bed of over 1,000 concrete sacks and six huge underwater platforms.
“The rotation has finished its course, we are at zero degrees, the ship is resting on the platforms,” said Italy’s civil protection chief Franco Gabrielli at a late night press conference on Giglio where he was applauded and cheered by residents. ”It could not have gone better than this,” said Franco Porcellacchia, an engineer working on the salvage for ship owner Costa Cruises. “It was a perfect operation.”
The Costa Concordia grounded near the port of Giglio in January 2012 after its captain, Francesco Schettino smashed it into coastal rock during a so-called ‘sail past’.
Salvage master Nicholas Sloane says he is delighted with how it went. ”I think for the whole team there’s a lot of relief because it’s been a struggle, it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster – but for…the whole team it’s fantastic that it worked just like they said it would work” he said. ”It’s time for a beer” he added.
