Last Sponsons Removed from Costa Concordia Wreck

The last two sponsons were removed from the Costa Concordia wreck this week, and the vessel is ready for transfer to dry dock. Deck 0 is watertight and the hull has been restored to autonomous buoyancy.

A decision will be made on Monday about which day next week the wreck will be towed to Dry Dock no. 4, where the final dismantling operations will occur over the next few months.

The Costa Concordia ran aground in the waters surrounding Giglio Island, Italy, in January 2012, and was parbuckled, refloated and towed away by the TITAN/Micoperi team in September 2014. The caissons were installed on the vessel in April 2013 using the SAL Heavy Lift vessel Svenja. 

The salvage was the largest, most technically demanding project of its kind in history.

The wreck was towed to Molo ex Superbacino in May 2015 where it is being recycled by the Ship Recycling Consortium – a group formed by Saipem (51 percent) and San Giorgio del Porto (49 percent). The dismantling project is expected to take over a year and to cost $114 million.

Around 50,000 tons of steel and 2,000 tons of copper are expected to be recovered from the vessel. Prior to arrival at Molo ex Superbacino over 5,700 tons of furniture and interior equipment was removed so the wreck could be towed over the breakwater of the Prà Voltri Port to reach the dismantling dock. Around 80 percent of the vessel is anticipated to be able to be recycled.