Tag: salvage operation

Salvage operation is necessary to prevent an environmental disaster on the Italian coastline

Locals are worried that Italian waters are in danger

The movement of the ship is being monitored on an hourly basis If the cruise ship was prised from its rocky resting place it could roll to a depth of more than 230ft, making salvage operations much harder.The movement of the ship is being monitored on an hourly basis through sophisticated instruments attached to the hull.If the ship was to plunge to the seabed, it could rupture its fuel tanks, sending 500,000 gallons of diesel and heavy oil into the pristine waters of the Tuscan island of Giglio.Greenpeace Italy said that when the cargo ship Rena broke up off the coast of New Zealand earlier this year, after running aground on a reef, around 40 miles of coastline was affected by pollution."The more time passes, the weaker the wreck (of the Concordia) becomes," said Alessandro Gianni, the director of Greenpeace Italy."The best option would be to remove it in its entirety from Giglio, even if that takes a couple of months longer." Trying to cut the vessel into pieces would be "disastrous" for the environment, he said.Experts said that there is no immediate prospect of the cruise ship breaking up or sinking deeper into the sea.But if the rate of ...

EU mission to observe the rescue and marine pollution operations Upon the invitation of the Italian Civil Protection authorities, an EU mission to observe the rescue andmarine pollution operations on the Costa Concordia cruise ship is going to be deployed today.The goal of the six-member expert team will be to observe the rescue and marine pollution operations and to issue a report with its main findings in order to share lessons learnt with all Participating States in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.The EU team deployed today by the Commission's Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) combines expertise in the fields of civil protection, marine pollution and search and rescue. The team is joined by a colleague from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and from the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit.The team will produce a report to be shared with the 31 European countries which belong to the European Civil Protection Mechanism and with partners in the UN.Source: European Commission News

Rough seas off the Tuscan coast forced the suspension of recovery operations Officials called off both the start of operations to remove of 500,000 gallons of fuel and the search for people still missing after determining the Costa Concordia had moved an inch and a half over six hours, coupled with waves of more than three feet.A 17th body, identified as Peruvian crew member Erika Soria Molina, was found Saturday. Sixteen crew and passengers remain listed as missing, with one body recovered from the ship not yet identified.Officials have virtually ruled out finding anyone alive more than two weeks after the Costa Concordia hit a reef, but were reluctant to give a final death toll for the Jan. 13 disaster. The crash happened when the captain deviated from his planned route, creating a huge gash that capsized the ship. More than 4,200 people were on board."Our first goal was to find people alive," Franco Gabrielli, the national civil protection official in charge of the operation, told a daily briefing. "Now we have a single, big goal, and that is that this does not translate into an environmental disaster."University of Florence professor Riccardo Fanti said the ship's movements could either be ...

To remove a half-million gallons of fuel from the grounded cruise ship A barge carrying a crane and other equipment hitched itself to the toppled Costa Concordia on Tuesday, signaling the start of preliminary operations to remove a half-million gallons of fuel from the grounded cruise ship before it leaks into the pristine Tuscan sea.Actual pumping of the oil isn't expected to begin until Saturday, but teams from the Dutch shipwreck salvage firm Smit were working on the bow of the Concordia on Tuesday and divers were to make underwater inspections to identify the precise locations of the fuel tanks.They were at work on the now-hitched Meloria barge as divers who blasted through a submerged section of the third-floor deck located another body from the wreckage, bringing the death toll to 16.The Concordia ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio on Jan. 13 after the captain veered from his approved course and gashed the ship's hull on a reef, forcing the panicked evacuation of 4,200 passengers and crew.The 16 bodies found so far include the one located on the third-floor deck Tuesday. Seven of the badly decomposed bodies remain unidentified and are presumed to be among some ...

The stricken Italian cruise ship weighs 114,500 tons and is holding 2,400 tons of fuel oil

Salina Bay - equipped with several oil recovery systems The EMSA-contracted Stand by Oil Spill Response Vessel Salina Bay arrived this weekend on site of the Costa Concordia to assist SMIT Salvage, who is in charge of the bunker removal and pollution response operations. Preparations are on-going for the removal of the bunker oil from the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia. The Salina Bay will be -as a precautionary measure- on stand-by during this operation over the next weeks.The Salina Bay is equipped with several oil recovery systems, as booms, skimmer, sweeping arms and a dedicated radar slick detection system. In the worst case of pollution, she will offer directly response capabilities. Until now no bunker related pollution has occurred."We are actively supporting all efforts to avoid environmental damage" said Leendert Bal, EMSA's Acting Executive Director, "which is a modest contribution after a very serious and tragic accident."Source: EMSA

Dangerous work because of the surges of water through the broken structure Divers are working to assess the state of the wreck of the Rena after the sea conditions improved enough to enable them to enter the water.The cargo ship, which ran aground on Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga in early October, split into two sections in heavy seas more than a week ago and last Tuesday most of the stern section sunk.By yesterday, conditions had eased enough to enable divers to carry out preliminary underwater inspections around the Rena.Today, Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said divers continued a full assessment of the state of the wreck, including its stability on the reef and general condition.That work was the first stage in working out what to do next."It's extremely challenging and dangerous work because of the surges of water through the broken structure and the vast amount of torn steel and other debris," MNZ national on-scene commander Rob Service said.For safety reasons divers would not be entering the ship's holds yet.Meanwhile, the Braemar Howells container recovery team intended to inspect three containers submerged off Matakana Island this week to try to identify them and check their condition.The focus of clean-up work this ...

Operation to remove 54,000 tonnes of oil An operation to remove 54,000 tonnes of oil from a damaged tanker in Belfast Lough has finished.The Genmar Companion had been sheltering off the Copeland Islands since developing a crack on its deck on 16 December.The operation to transfer the vacuum gas oil was delayed several times due to the extreme weather.The transfer, which began on Friday night, was halted for a period due to strong winds but resumed on Saturday.A 23-strong crew have been on board the ship since the crack was detected when passing the Donegal coast.The crew are mostly from India and the Philippines and among them is a two-year-old girl.The safety exclusion zone around the tankers was lifted at midnight on Saturday.Hugh Shaw, the Secretary of State's Representative Maritime Salvage and Intervention, said: "I am delighted that the ship-to-ship transfer operation has now been successfully completed."I would like to take this opportunity to offer my thanks to all concerned with the operation."In particular I would like to thank Fendercare and the masters and crew of both the Genmar Companion and BW Seine for their professionalism in carrying out the transfer in extremely difficult weather conditions experienced over the past ...