The last oil is pumped from the cruise ship Costa Concordia. On The morning of March 24, at 07.30 CET, SMIT Salvage successfully completed its assignment on the removal of fuel from the Costa Concordia.

Over the last couple of days, the SMIT Salvage diving team was transferring heavy fuel oil from the last settling tank in the engine room. These last tanks were completed, closed and sealed off.

Pumping equipment to be demobilized
Acoording to Smit Salvage the entire oil removal process which lasted just over one month went smoothly and was executed in line with expectations. Most of the diving and pumping equipment is to be demobilized and brought back to Livorno onboard of the crane/work barge Meloria.

Smit Salavage will retain a small diving team and a diving foreman on the island under a so-called ‘caretaker contract’. The team will remain standby for designated emergency duties until a contractor is appointed for the removal of the entire ship

In mid-January the Costa Concordia capsized when it was too close to the coast of the Italian island.

Operarion stopped few times
Smit Salvage, a subsidiary of dredging company Boskalis, pumped 2380 cubic meters of heavy oil out of the ship wreck. Rough seas forced the company to stop the defueling operation a few times.

Measurements have shown that the water around the ship is not polluted.

The threath of an environmental disaster off the coast of Italy is over. This said mayor Sergio Ortelli of the island of Giglio on March 22.The mayor expects that the salvage of the 290-meter Costa Concordia will take ten to twelve months.

Read more on the defueling operation in our previous news item:
Costa Concordia: oil salvage operation under way again

More information
Smit Salvage
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
+31 10 454 99 11
www.smit.com

Operations to pump thousands of potentially hazardous fuel from the tanks of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia began on February 12. Two weeks ago the crew of Smit Salvage/Boskalis had to stop the defueling operation when rough seas forced the company to disconnect the working crane barge from the ship wreck.

Defueling may take one month
The emptying of 15 of the Concordia’s fuel tanks where most of the ship’s roughly 2,400 tons of fuel are stored, may require as long as a month, officials said.

The Concordia ran aground near Giglio, a small island off Italy’s western coast, on January 13, after veering off its official course. The process of emptying the ship’s tanks was originally scheduled to start soon after the end of the search for the missing people.

Forward tanks first
The initial operation focused on the forward fuel tanks. Four of the six tanks had already been installed with a sealable flange during the first defueling attempt late January. As operations continue, the remaining tanks will also be prepared.

Weather looking good
According to Smit/Boskalis the weather forecast for the coming days looks good and pumping will continue around the clock as long as the favorable conditions continue.

Read more on the defueling operation in our previous news item:
Rough seas prevent Smit-Neri salavage team to start defueling Costa Concordia

More information
Smit
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
+31 10 454 99 11
www.smit.com

The Dutch-Italian salvage team of Smit Salvage and Fratelli Neri had installed two of the six forward fuel tanks with a sealed flange and were ready to pump out the fuel.

However rough seas prevented them to start defueling the half-sunk cruise ship Coast Concordia off the Italian coast. This was announced at the press conference on Saturday January 28th on the island Giglio.

Technical briefing at press conference
At a press conference Smit Salvage and Fratelli Neri provided a technical briefing on the oil removal operation. The team was preparing the four remaining tanks.

Together the forward tanks are estimated to hold approximately two thirds of the (intermediate) fuel oil in the casualty.

A diver places the first flange against the hull of the Costa Concordia.

Water in, oil out
The divers had already drilled into four of the six outer tanks and fixed valves on them: one on top, one on bottom. Later on hoses will then be attached to the valves and as the oil is sucked out of the upper hose, sea water is pumped in to fill the vacuum via the lower hose.

Low temperature of heavy fuel oil
In an interview with BBC salvage manager Bart Huizing of Smit explains that the low temperature of the heavy fuel oil akes the operation more difficult and he expects that they shal have to heat up the oil before it can be pumped up.

See the interview with Bart Huizing on the BBC-website.

Start first
Huizing: “This makes it difficult for us to predict at what rate we can pump. We need to start first”, said Huizing. “We don’t see a big risk in an oil spill but if weather deteriorates nobody can tell what the vessel will do.”

Waiting for better weather
Later that day Smit Salvage had to disconnect the crane barge Melori from the cruise ship and brought into the protective port of the island Giglio. Officials said the conditions might keep them from resuming work until midweek.

See an underwater movie and a hot tap animation of installing the seal flange and pumps: Boskalis

See the technical briefing of the fuel removal: Boskalis

The latest news on the ship salvage is daily published on the website:
Boskalis/Smit

More information
Smit Salvage/Boskalis
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
+31 10 454 99 11
www.smit.com