A press conference was held today in Rome, detailing the removal operations plan for the Costa Concordia. The press conference was led by officials from the removal project’s team, Costa Cruises, and Italian government officials.
Officials announced today that the Costa Concordia would be removed by June of this year. The preparations to refloat the ship will begin in April with the installation of 15 buoyancy tanks, which will assist the ship in refloating to the surface.
Once the ship has been refloated, the Costa Concordia will head to an undisclosed scrapyard. In today’s press conference, it was revealed that multiple shipyards, located in China, England, France, Italy, and Turkey, are currently bidding for the contract to dismantle the ship. The chosen shipyard would be awarded the valuable contract to both scrap and recycle the Costa Concordia. The Costa Concordia’s final destination is expected to be announced in the next few months.
Earlier this week, the judge overseeing the trial of Captain Francesco Schetinno announced that the Costa Concordia would undergo a second internal investigation. The court hopes to find new evidence that was unobtainable until the ship was righted in late 2013. Investigators specifically cited an interest in the ship’s navigation bridge, hoping to find evidence of human error within the ship’s navigation and operational equipment.
The Costa Concordia has been residing on the coast of Giglio since January 13, 2012, where she struck rock and sunk along the shore.
