Final preparations are under way to refloat and remove the Costa Concordia from the waters off Giglio in what has been the largest and most expensive maritime salvage operation ever attempted.
After more than two-and-a-half-years and $1 billion, the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia is about to set sail again, although it won’t be under its own power. The move could not come too soon, because the risk that it will damage the environment is much higher now than when the ship originally crashed near the Tuscan island of Giglio in January 2012.
If all goes well, the crippled vessel, which was rotated to an upright position (parbuckled) in September, will be lifted to the surface in an even riskier operation sometime around the middle of July — likely the 14th because the salvors working on the operation are superstitious enough to avoid having the refloat in progress on the 13th.
