(With video) The engineers of the Titan-Micoperi consortium confirm that the "parbuckling” of the Concordia can be completed by the end of summer 2013, at the beginning of September.
Technical details will be presented to authorities for the needed approvals. The parbuckling will allow to check the currently submerged and, therefore, inaccessible side of the wreck, make repairs and, more generally, perform a technical assessment on the overall condition of the wreck in view of its refloating and subsequent transport.
Last Subsea Platform
At the end of such assessment, the timing of the following phases will be determined more accurately. Also, the parbuckling timing will not interfere with the tourist season. In the meantime, technicians have positioned the last of the six subsea platforms that will ensure the safety support of the wreck after its vertical rotation.
The platform weighs about 1000 tons, is 32 meters long and 22 meters high and is supported by 5 large pillars (over 1.5 meters in diameter) attached to the granite bottom at a depth of about 10 meters.
Nine Sponsons to Be Positioned
The installation of high strength grout bags (of which 75% has now been installed) and mattresses, required to fill the gap between the two spurs of rock on which the wreck lies, is also in progress. Two of the eleven sponsons have already been positioned, welded and attached on the emerged side of the ship and will be used during the rotation phase. Before the parbuckling another nine sponsons will be positioned.
The sponsons, built by Fincantieri, are made of steel and have a size of 10.5 x 11.5 meters, 20 or 30 meter high. After the parbuckling, another four sponsons will be installed to reach the total of fifteen. Following the parbuckling, another fifteen sponsons will be installed on the starboard side of the wreck in a symmetrical position to those on the left side. The installation of the thirty sponsons will allow the refloating of the wreck.
Activities continue with about 500 workers and thirty vessels at work 24/7.
No Damage to Marine Eco System
To date, no damage has been registered to the marine ecosystem outside the area of the construction site. In addition, on June 15, ARPA (Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Tuscany) and ISPRA have highlighted that all samplings and analyses, conducted since January 2012, have not detected any critical issue. Even the sampling cycles carried out inside the ship are not a source of worry.
You can watch a video of the first sponson installation (P10) here.
Picture: Operations status at the end of June 2013 (by The Parbuckling Project).
