At the moment, the Costa Concordia is floating 6.5 metres from the seabed. Heavy winds have interrupted operations so it is still unclear whether the wreck will be towed to Genoa today, 21 July.
There are still six starboard sponsons to be lowered to their final position. Once this operation is completed, deck 4 and 3 will emerge rapidly one after the other.
Chronological overview of the operations up to 20 July:
- 17 July: Work was completed on sponson 12 which was then lowered to its final position. Two chains and four cables still had to be connected to three of the starboard sponsons (S4, S5, S18). Strong winds interrupted operations during the night.
- 18 July: The Concordia emerged an additional metre, up to deck 5, reaching on average 4 metres of refloating. One chain and three cables still had to be connected. Work went on all night. Sponson S18 and the other starboard sponsons were lowered to their final position.
- 19 July: Deck 5 completely emerged with about 2 metres for deck 4 to refloat remaining. The wreck was stable in its position while operations to control ballast were performed. An average floating of about 6 metres was reached.
Hydrocarbon Leakage
On 19 July, at about 11 pm, a small amount of hydrocarbons was spotted in the mid ship/aft of the wreck. The Oil Spill Response team was immediately activated and the area was cleaned through the use of absorbent booms. Since then, there has been no evidence of leakage in progress.
Over the weekend, the team was replacing the absorbing booms in the area. No damage in the structure, nor in the hot tap flanges, were found after technical assessments.
Picture: The Costa Concordia on 18 July (by The Parbuckling Project).
