The wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia will be 'parbuckled' today. The ship will be rotated from it's current angle on the rocks to a normal position and it's outfitted with huge floaters to get it stable. Giant metal chains and cables are used to pull it straight up on a newly created platform to level the existing seabed.
The operation to lift the ship from the rocks on which it stranded will cost about $800 million so the insurance company won't be happy with the careless act by the Concordia's captain.
If all goes well today the ship will be tugged to a port where it will be scrapped. The fascinating operation of '#parbuckling' it can be followed live on streams like http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24104643 #EveryDayScience
Even more expensive word then +Paul Selormey 🙂
€600M = $800M
updated the post to say $800M +Paul Selormey +Todd Derr Tnx.
+Tommaso Di Donato +angelo pistagna +Marco Pedrazzoli
The first line says $800M but the 3rd paragraph still says $600M. I was hoping the extra $200M could be split among those of us who did already know what parbuckling was 😉
Proof of prior knowledge before I even consider it +David Miller
tnx for the correction
I wish I had a way to prove it then because it would be worth proving.
Do you think their insurance premiums went up? 😛
judging by the illustration, that buys a lot of lego bricks 😉
Scrapping the lego on the spot would have been easier indeed +Paul Brocklehurst 😉
Odor of rotted food after they flip it. Yuck!
An interesting sidelight of that foolish shipwreck is that the Pope didn't even show up along the shore with his smoke pot and ching-chings to bless the dead. After all. it would have been such a short drive for him in his super expensive Pope-mobile.
Surely they intend to scrap the ship. Who would want to book a cruise on it if put back into service? Maybe just use it as a floating catacomb to complement the ghoulish catacombs of the Roman Empire that are such a tourist attraction.
This ship cost $570M to build and now $800M to scrap. It was used for 7 years before it sank. Someone is taking a big loss.
I watched an interview with the salvage team and those are platforms. Much time and thought went into this and there were concerns about attempting to salvage in place as this area has I think coral reefs and lots of unique marine life (not sure exactly what) but whatever it is, they thought they would cause greater harm to environment by attempting to salvage in place. Best wishes to the team – who have worked long and hard on this.
They should refloat, repair it, and sell it to pirates.
This Is nice
Sell it to pirates +Larry Olson All they are interested in is the ransom for passengers.
It would be like Waterworld, a Dennis Hopper type pirate driving around the foggy ocean.
That's where the edginess comes in.
Italian Titanic …
I was interested to learn that word too! But $800 million – ouch …
The parbuckling went well and the ship is in an upright position now. see the video over here http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/sep/17/raising-costa-concordia-timelapse-video
Congratulations – well done. I know there is more to do, but how nice that it has turned out so well.
I just find it interesting that it's profitable to spend $800m to scrap a boat.
The biggest issue was not profitability. This ship went aground in a protected area – a reef and marine life that were important to keep. ALSO they were very concerned about potential leaks (don't know all that was on ship). There have been several excellent articles about decision and the protected area you might want to read.
I am not sure about this – but the shipping line and insurance companies were paying for this. Of course, knowing the way the world works, I am sure they are passing on this cost as a "doing business" cost. Wonder if anyone is being fined and if that is added to the pot. Have not kept up on that aspect – been watching from the science and engineering marvel.