Costa Concordia on Channel 4

[Michael]

Hello all,

 

Did anyone else watch real footage of the Costa Concordia on Channel 4? If you missed it, you should be able to watch it on 4oD in the near future.

 

Without giving too much away it really was fascinating to watch, but shocking also how unorganised the whole evacuation procedure really was.

 

The one question that hasn't been answered though, is what are they going to do with it? Move it and repair it? Weighing in at 114,000 tonnes, it's going to take a team of engineering experts to move something so large and so heavy.

 

Discuss away!

[glennda]

Ah I missed it - going to watch later if it comes on!

 

just trying to figure out If i have a copy of the auto-attendant I just delete off the phone system! meh

[localzuk]

The plan from what they announced last week was:

 

1. Remove all fuel oil

2. Patch the hole in place

3. Seal up sections inside

4. Pump water out of sections

5. Pump air into sections

6. 4 and 5 would be done at the same time as the ship is held in place/lifted by cranes to be built on the seabed.

7. Once upright and afloat, it would be taken away and then most likely sold on for scrap.

 

Part 1 is already done. And they reckon it'll take a couple of years to do.

 

The reason the guy from Carnival gave was that the local environment would be least damaged that way, and the local authorities likely wouldn't allow the cheaper/quicker 'chop it up' method to happen.

Edited April 11, 2012 by localzuk

[Michael]

 

Part 1 is already done. And they reckon it'll take a couple of years to do.

 

Thinking about it, you're probably right. I've never been on a ship that size, so don't fully appreciate just how big it really is. It will create a lot of work which is a good thing, but it'll never compensate the people who lost their lives.

 

It just goes to show that even with all the computers on board, it was without doubt human error which created this disaster.

[DrCheese]

It's a shame the entire thing will be scraped, but I'd guess after a few years of being submerged most of the inside will be unusable and cost more to repair/replace than to build a whole new ship!

[localzuk]

It might not be scrapped - that's just guesswork by the salvagers who various media sources interviewed. Its most likely to be sold on - it could be sold to another company for refitting.

 

But by the time its all floating again, it'll have been partially submerged for a couple of years, so all the electrical systems, plumbing, engines etc... will be completely ruined. And a ship that size is built in a 'prefab' way - so retrofitting new systems is expensive and difficult.

 

So, scrapping is most likely. It'll probably end up driven into a beach in india and dismantled... Alang Ship Breaking Yard

[dave.81]

I actually sat and watched it twice, the footage was shocking and amazing all at the same time.

[K.C.Leblanc]

It's a shame the entire thing will be scraped, but I'd guess after a few years of being submerged most of the inside will be unusable and cost more to repair/replace than to build a whole new ship!

 

I doubt many people would want to take another journey on it. There's a lot of weird traditions about ships. The Herald of Free Enterprise (the cross channel ferry that sank during the '80s) was renamed Flushing Range before it was towed to Asia to be dismantled.

Edited April 12, 2012 by K.C.Leblanc

[Haptic]

They should leave it lying around the UK coast, if the unsavoury types around here can strip a skip of any metal in 5 seconds it shouldn't take them long to get the Concordia loaded on the flatbeds!

[Theblacksheep]

I doubt many people would want to take another journey on it. There's a lot of weird traditions about ships. The Herald of Free Enterprise (the cross channel ferry that sank during the '80s) was renamed Flushing Range before it was towed to Asia to be dismantled.

 

USS Phoenix

[Dos_Box]

Considerign it took about 10 months to chop up that ferry (MS Riverdance) that got washed up on the beach north of Blackpool (I have some great piccies of that the day after it beached!) and that 'only' weighed in at 6041 tonnes and was acessable from land. To dismantel a 100,000+ ship that was only acessable from the sea would take years, and years and run the risk of contaminents regularly being dumped into the water. Refloating it then towing it away to a proper breakers yard does seem to the the sensible thing to do.