As the winter season gets closer, works to increase stability of the Costa Concordia wreck are in progress at Giglio island.
The adverse meteo-marine conditions registered during the past week end, that caused minor movements of the wreck considered by engineers as a physiological settlement of the wreck on the fake seabed, have confirmed the need to move forward with the so-called winterisation measures to further stabilise the wreck for the winter making it ready to face the worse possible weather scenarios.
The activities foreseen are:
- positioning of an additional hold-back system to avoid movements of the bow,
- installation of removable grout bags in the area between the wreck and the rocks on the land side (this activity begun 7 October), and
- the positioning of tubular structures that will connect the underwater platforms to the wreck itself (will be attached to the top of the sponsons) on the sea side.
In the meantime, structural surveys on the starboard side are in progress to define the repair operations necessary to position the fifteen sponsons needed for the refloating phase.
Environmental monitoring is also on going and results confirm Giglio sea water quality.
Picture: Costa Concordia salvage, July (by Soerfm, Wikipedia)
