Costa Concordia Uprighting Operation Begins

At 0900 local time, 16, September,  the Titan Micoperi Consortium announced that Parbuckling operations had commenced. Capt Nick Sloane, the Senior Salvage Master, gave the order to activate the commands that will be sent from the Control Room on the barge “Polluce” in the immediate vicinity of the bow of the Concordia. Latest news:

All commands and signals – e.g. activation of strand jacks, opening and closing of sponson valves, information about the position of the wreck – will be sent to and from the barge control room via two separate “umbilicals” (one used as a back-up for the other); these are cables arranged between the control room and the ship guaranteeing communication between the two.

The team operating in the Barge Control Room includes 11 experts: a dedicated Ballast Engineer, ROV pilots, engineers who are strandjack specialists, a computer engineer and a design engineer.

The team members in the control room will operate all the systems and monitor progress using 8 monitors. Five TV cameras with five microphones have been placed on the highest deck of the Concordia; the images and sounds monitored during the parbuckling will allow the engineers to make adjustments depending on any twist and torsion arising on the ship.

Duplication of the monitors has been provided in the “Salvage Room” ashore, where all the other engineers and technicians will follow the operation and be able to provide assistance if and when the need arises