[Parbuckling Update] Costa Concordia Stable, 'Winterization' Ongoing

The Concordia is stable. After some minor movements registered in the 15 days following the parbuckling, the wreck has settled on the platform and seabed. Since then, the monitoring systems - active 24/7 - have not indicated any significant movement.

The winterization operations are almost completed and the last details will be finished next week.

In the meantime, in the Livorno and Genoa shipyards, work is in progress to prepare the 15 sponsons that will be positioned on the starboard side (land side) and the remaining 4 on the right side (sea side) in order to proceed with the refloating phase and have the wreck ready for towing by the end of June 2014. Sponsons are projections from the sides of a vessel, for protection, stability, or the mounting of equipment. They extend a hull dimension at or below the waterline and serve to increase flotation or add lift when underway.

The sponsons will be completed with the installation of strand jacks in the shipyards and will be transported in vertical position to Giglio Island in the spring, ready to be installed in order to optimize time. The installation of the sponsons is expected to take place in the month of April, after the completion of the restore operations needed on the damaged area of the starboard side.

Finally, Costa informed the public that 405 safes have been removed from the dry cabins onboard the wreck in agreement with judicial authorities; contents will be inventoried and handed back to their owners.