Costa Concordia salvage

Italian salvor, Micoperi and American salvor Titan, with support from the UK’s Dalby Offshore, are working together to perform the parbuckling operation to right the ship, which is expected to take anywhere between 12 and 18 hours.

Salvors have never tried to lift such a huge ship so close to hand. Concordia weighs 114,000 tonnes and is the length of three football pitches. Engineers are working closely together to right the wreck using pulleys and counterweights remotely from a barge close to the wreck.

According to the latest report from the salvors, the wreck side of the Concordia has been successfully dislodged from the reef and is currently 10 degrees into rotation, so there’s still a long way to go. The whole parbuckling system is being monitored closely as the lift progresses.

When the ship reaches 20 degrees, gravity should take over – the giant hollow boxes on the upturned side of the hull will be flooded with water, helping to pull the ship fully upright and onto six steel platforms underwater.

After bringing the hull to vertical, the savors intend to attach airtight tanks, called sponsons, to either side of the hull, refloat the hull and tanks and perform a recovery tow to an Italian port. But this happen until next spring.

Costa Concordia hit rocks and rolled over on its side after taking on water in January 2012 – 32 people died and two are still missing. The vessel’s captain, Francesco Schettino, faces charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship.