COSTA CONCORDIA - Removal of the steel platform with LSR-S 40BPM Diamond Wire

On January 13th, 2012, the ship "Costa Concordia" was submerged near the Isola del Giglio, due to a strong struck to a reef. That cold night 12 people lost their lives, some others managed to save themselves, and the ship remained stranded on that rocky reef. There was an urgent need to build a steel safety platform which could ensure a safe position for the wreck, thus avoiding the potential risk of sinking. The dangerous ship lifting operation which is called Parbuckling, was organized by Titan Salvage (American company) together with the Italian company Micoperi.

The Parbuckling phases included:

• the safe recovery of the ship; • the straightening of the ship; • the usage of stabilizers (sponson) to keep the ship in a correct position; • bringing the ship back to the surface

PLATFORM REMOVAL:

In order to move the ship from the position where it was stuck, it was necessary to remove the steel safety platform by cutting it. For this reason, our LSR-S 40 DW diamond wire was the best solution for this operation. Diamond Pauber together with Pregrz, had to design a useful and user-friendly machine. The machine was composed of electromagnets, that gave an optimal fastening to the mechanical structure, 3 cameras abled to control each stage, and an underwater ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) that followed the operation to ensure greater safety for the divers, who were always involved in underwater control operations. More than 45 operators were involved every day to maintain a constant control during operations.

Our CEO, Mr. Stefano Bernieri, personally wanted to participate/share in all the cutting phases of the platform, thus giving a real technical support to all operators. All cuts were completed in time, the only delays detected were due to weather conditions. The assembly phase of the platform removal needed more than 2 hours, whereas 3 hours a day were needed to complete every single cut. It took 7 days, working 24 hours a day, in order to accomplish the assigned work as planned.