Bay team plays huge part in R3.2bn Italy salvage project
‘[We started] construction of a floating 6km boom which we completed in eight weeks
PREVENTING rotting food and contaminated material from entering the ocean was one of the biggest tasks Bay company Xtreme Projects undertook as part of the team working on the massive Costa Concordia salvage project.
Yesterday, a group of civil engineers listened intently as Kevin Kelly spoke of his company’s contribution to the multibillion rand salvage operation.
The luxury passenger liner, three times the size of the Titanic, ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio on January 13 2012.
Of the more than 4 200 passengers on board, 32 died.
The salvage plan saw the capsized vessel rolled upright onto platforms before it was refloated and moved away from the shore.
Kelly, who owns environmental spill response operator Xtreme Projects, told his story to about 25 civil engineers from around the Bay, gathered at the Grand Hotel in Central yesterday for their quarterly South African Institute of Civil Engineers breakfast.
“The salvage operation started in May 2012. When we met with the Italians, one of their biggest concerns was manufacturing booms which would prevent the rotting food and materials, including oil from the ship, reaching the coastline,” Kelly said.
“We then returned to SA to start construction of a floating, 6km boom which we completed in eight weeks. Just for that job we had to employ a further 47 people, who are still employed at Xtreme Projects.”
He added: “The day we deployed the booms we started drilling the holes for parbulking, whereby 2.5m-deep holes are drilled into the ocean floor to prop the ship upright.”
The righting process – known as parbuckling – took about 12 hours and resulted in the Costa Concordia being rolled onto a specially built underwater platform to keep it afloat.
The salvage operation, which required more than 470 divers contributing more than 66 000 hours worth of diving to investigate and maintain the site, cost R3.2-billion. Xtreme Projects’ bill was R1-billion.
“Since then, the vessel has been towed to Genoa, Italy. It is currently still there.
“On May 10 it will be moved a further 10km to an Italian port where it will be lifted over a boom into the harbour and will be cut up,” Kelly said.
In February, an Italian court sentenced Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino to 16 years and one month in prison for causing the cruise ship disaster.
The disgraced skipper, who had tearfully appealed to the court for mercy, was convicted of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship with passengers and crew still on board.