TITAN Successfully Parbuckles the “Costa Concordia”

Crowley Maritime’s TITAN Salvage subsidiary and the Italian firm Micoperi were ready to roll early Monday morning! The most recent stage of salvaging the Costa Concordia – the rotation, or parbuckling, of the ship to an upright postion, began during the early morning hours on Mon., Sept. 16. The parbuckling phase was completed late Monday night (EST)/early Tuesday morning (Italian time).

Summary of the Costa Concordia Salvage Job
The cruise ship Costa Concordia partially sank in Jan. 2012 after hitting a reef off the Italian coast and running aground at Isola del Giglio. Since then, Crowley Maritime Corporation’s marine salvage and wreck removal subsidiary, TITAN Salvage, based in Pompano, Fla., has worked closely with partner Micoperi, an Italian company specializing in underwater construction and engineering, to refloat the wrecked cruiseliner and tow it away to a port, where it will be scrapped.

To read more about this impressive job, check out Crowley’s most recent issue of Connections Magazine.

Watch the recent “60 Minutes” documentary for an inside look at the salvage efforts surrounding the Costa Concordia.

What is Parbuckling?

“Parbuckling” is the technical term for rotating or rolling a stricken vessel upwards in order to return it to a vertical position. Watch a video that demonstrates the parbuckling process here.

Parbuckling the Costa Concordia is a very unique engineering feat because it is the largest capsized passenger ship in history (approximately 300 meters in length and 114,000 gross tonnage) and because of its position.

A great article that describes the science and engineering behind this parbuckling project can be viewed online here.

LIVE Parbuckling Updates:

• Monday, 10:10 p.m., EST – The parbuckling phase of the salvage job is complete. The Costa Concordia is now upright for the first time since January 2012. Crowley is proud of this exceptionally talented team! 

• Monday, 9:30 p.m. EST – The operation is in the final parbuckling phase and has now rotated 35 degrees from its original position. Everything is going on according to plan and the ship is expected to begin to rotate on its own in the near future. Here’s a great story that tells a little more detail about this final phase: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24121480

• Monday, 8:15 p.m. – The Costa Concordia has rotated approximately 25° with respect to the starting position. This means that the operation has gone beyond the point at which the vessel no longer needs to be pulled by the strand jacks and can now rotate under its own momentum and under the weight of the ballast water contained in the sponsons.

• Monday, 4:00 p.m. EST – The TITAN Salvage – Micoperi team is making great progress, even after dark in Italy. The vessel started at a 66-degree list and is now resting at a 44-degree tilt. Work is expected to continue through the night.

• Monday, 1:20 p.m. EST – After a one-hour break, the salvage work continues and is expected to go through the night.

• Monday, 11:45 a.m. EST – The salvage team has rolled, or parbuckled, the Costa Concordia 11 of 65 degrees. Valves reach the sea level when the rotation reaches 20°. 

• Monday, 9:45 a.m. EST – The parbuckling plan is right on track. All loads are within the engineered stresses at this point.

• Monday, 8:15a.m. EST – The salvage team has announced evidence of a smooth movement of the hull so far, with a consequent rotation of about 3 degrees.

For more updates, check out the Crowley Facebook or Twitter page.

How Has Jensen Maritime Been Involved in this Salvage Job?
Crowley’s naval architecture and marine engineering company, Jensen Maritime, based in Seattle, has worked closely alongside the Micoperi/TITAN team to provide sophisticated support services during this high-profile project. To help ensure success throughout the job, Jensen has provided project management specialists, procedure writers, designers, project control engineers and heavy logistics managers.

Where Can I Learn More?
To learn more, please visit the Costa Concordia parbuckling website.