Costa Concordia Refloating Still Expected in June
Residents of Giglio Island received another briefing April 14 about the salvage project's next phase.
The last phase of work prior to refloating the Costa Concordia cruise ship is about to begin on the coastline of Giglio Island. Commissioner for the Concordia Emergency Franco Gabrielli, President of the Observatory Maria Sargentini, Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli, and Costa Crociere representatives held a meeting April 14 with residents of the island to update them on the plan for installing the final 19 sponsons -- 15 on the starboard site and four on the port side -- that will be used to float the ship so it can be moved to a salvage yard.
Workers are adding now adding bumpers to damaged sections of the starboard side so the sponsons can be installed there.
The first of the remaining sponsons is expected to be installed by the end of April. "Sponsons will be installed and connected underwater with chains and cables, with a complex and weather sensitive operation. Once the first two sponsons will be positioned, technicians will be able to verify precisely the overall timetable, that currently indicates a possible refloating by the end of June," according to the salvage companies' April 14 news release. "Environmental monitoring activities are also on going and results do not indicate any critical issue."