Italy Approves Costa Concordia Parbuckling

The Costa Concordia will be rotated upright using a series of pulleys fixed to the ship and underwater platforms. Image courtesy Titan-Micoperi consortium.

Authorities in Italy have given engineers the green light to carry out the parbuckling of the stricken Costa Concordia cruise ship at the Island of Giglio, Italy’s Civil Protection Agency has reported.

Authorities met Friday at the Department of Civil Protection headquarters in Rome, where they approved the parbuckling, or uprighting, procedure. A final go-ahead is expected sometime next week once the proper test certificates are received and other preparations are made. Once granted, the uprighting could come at any time.

FULL COVERAGE: Costa Concordia Salvage

As gCaptain has reported, salvage crews with the Titan-Micoperi consortium hired to remove the ship in one piece have been preparing the Costa Concordia shipwreck for over a year now, installing underwater platforms and outfitting the port side of the ship with massive steal caissons. The parbuckling itself, easily the most anticipated and crucial part of the salvage, has never been done on anything of this scale before.

Sources close to the situation have indicated that a likely “window” for the parbuckling is September 16th to 20th, barring any unforeseen circumstances, according to Giglio news.

The operation is expected to take a few days.

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