Concordia News: Please Post Here

[Ken711]

The notation says that the two dark green locations have the anchor blocks installed, but the towers for the strand jacks have not been installed yet. As I understand it, the cables/chains used at the anchor blocks will not be used during the parbuckling, except as safeties. The strand jacks are raised on towers to give the maximum length of cabling possible to rotate the ship. The further the strand jack starts out away from the point where the cable attaches to the hull, the more cable can be pulled.

 

That's interesting, I had no idea how that system was suppose to operate.

[chengkp75]

That's interesting, I had no idea how that system was suppose to operate.

 

Think of the strand jack as a hollow hydraulic cylinder. The cable runs through the center. There will be two cable grippers, one on the end of the moving cylinder, and one on the opposite end of the fixed cylinder. The moving cylinder moves inside the fixed cylinder by applying or removing hydraulic pressure. They will extend the moving cylinder as far as possible, then grip the cable with it's gripper, and then retract, pulling the cable with it. They will then grip the cable with the fixed gripper, relax the moving gripper, and extend the cylinder, and repeat. The pictures I see look like the strand jacks are about 4 feet long, so they may have a 3 foot stroke, so each pull will be 3 feet.

[clive and anne]

MV Lone left Genova this evening with Caisson No 3 and is due at Giglio just after 11am tomorrow.

[clive and anne]

This should have said arriving 04.30 tomorrow morning. So we have an early start.

It has also been suggested that Micoperi 30 has pulled away to go and get more caissons.

[chengkp75]

This should have said arriving 04.30 tomorrow morning. So we have an early start.

It has also been suggested that Micoperi 30 has pulled away to go and get more caissons.

 

I think Micoperi 30 has moved so that Lone can get into position with the #3 caisson.

[Mike.Minh]

I think Micoperi 30 has moved so that Lone can get into position with the #3 caisson.

 

And indeed we are in business

Edited July 11, 2013 by Mike.Minh

[chengkp75]

And indeed we are in business

 

The caisson is in place, it looks like Lone is moving off, I would expect Micoperi to move back in to support welding, etc.

[Mike.Minh]

MV Lone has dropped off the parcel and left to a holding position in the bay of St Stefano. Mounting this caisson #3 was a much faster job than with any of the earlier caissons. Is maybe #3 more for buoyancy and not mounted to pulling wires like #6 or #10?

 

In that context, I 'd like to understand more about the pulling wires/chains/strands. I did fully understand how the hydraulic jacks work (thanks chengkp75), but not why the jacks need to be on these towers. Why does the length of cable need to be longer and thereby need to be mounted on such towers? I would understand that it's better to have the jacks above water.

 

From top of tower, down inside tower to some 'guide roll' under water, along more or less seabed, under hull, through to the anchor points on the port side of CC.

 

Will the main pulling force be on these wires or rather on the port side wires which run from top of caissons to the edge of the underwater platforms?

[chengkp75]

MV Lone has dropped off the parcel and left to a holding position in the bay of St Stefano. Mounting this caisson #3 was a much faster job than with any of the earlier caissons. Is maybe #3 more for buoyancy and not mounted to pulling wires like #6 or #10?

 

In that context, I 'd like to understand more about the pulling wires/chains/strands. I did fully understand how the hydraulic jacks work (thanks chengkp75), but not why the jacks need to be on these towers. Why does the length of cable need to be longer and thereby need to be mounted on such towers? I would understand that it's better to have the jacks above water.

 

From top of tower, down inside tower to some 'guide roll' under water, along more or less seabed, under hull, through to the anchor points on the port side of CC.

 

Will the main pulling force be on these wires or rather on the port side wires which run from top of caissons to the edge of the underwater platforms?

 

The port side wires will pull the top of the ship to port, but without the lines under the hull to the towers, this would place strain on the hold back (anchor block) wires to keep the ship from just sliding to port. The combination of pulling the top to port, and the bottom of the caissons to starboard generates a rolling motion on the ship.

 

Due to the geometry of the ship, and how that geometry varies with regards to the fixed platforms as the ship rolls, the cables on the port side will be shorter, and need to travel less distance than the ones going underneath and around the hull to starboard. So, to ensure that the entire event goes off in one go, without having to stop and possibly reset the jacks or cables, you want to get the jacks as far as possible from the connection point on the ship. It's hard to describe, but if you've rigged things like this (not that I've moved a ship), you get a feel for why it works.

 

I think that #3 went on faster is that it does not need to be as precisely positioned as the others. They needed to be installed precisely in order that the next ones land correctly, while #3 is "freestanding" with nothing adjacent to it.

[clive and anne]

It appears that MV Lone is off to Livorno to pick up P6, P7 & P8 returning next Friday.

[Mike.Minh]

It appears that MV Lone is off to Livorno to pick up P6, P7 & P8 returning next Friday.

 

Where did you read this (serious question, because AIS trackers currently place MV Lone just 11 nm away in the bay of St Stefano, which, on a clear day is almost visible on the webcam). AIS (marine) trackers are not the most reliable source of data, hence my question.

 

Thanks to changkp75 for a very good explanation, much clearer now. Getting a feel for it now.

[clive and anne]

Hi Mike

It was from Giglio News.

Hope this works

 

# 78 John Zardoni 7/11/2013 13:57

Sorry but how do you even only to hypothesise that the largest salvage operation in history to fail for wrong concrete mix?

As for work, Lone will end in the next few hours laying the P3 report and then you see the next moves. By Lily going to Livorno to load the P8-7-6 to return to Lily next Friday

Hope I interpreted the interpretation correctly

[SomeBeach]

What one lawyer had to say about Schettino's brief appearance in court:

http://etravelblackboardasia.com/article/92292/national-lawyers-strike-suspends-concordia-schettinos-trial

[CTH]

Where did you read this (serious question, because AIS trackers currently place MV Lone just 11 nm away in the bay of St Stefano, which, on a clear day is almost visible on the webcam). AIS (marine) trackers are not the most reliable source of data, hence my question.

MV Lone now leaving St. Stefano, heading for Livorno, should arrive mid-afternoon today, according to www.vesselfinder.com

[clive and anne]

Hurrah, Clive got something right.

After a bad week its nice to be correct every now and again.LOL

Thanks for that CTH.

Tomorrow I am off to Copenhagen to pick up a cruise ship on Sunday for a week, I will look in, hopefully, every few days.

[clive and anne]

A couple of questions for our Salvage experts.

 

(1) When the parbuckle takes place, there will come a moment when the chains pulling Concordia upright which are attached to the underwater platform, will have done their job. Am I right in assuming then the chains attached to the anchor blocks will then take over and gently lower her onto the platform. There appear to be some speculation on Giglio News that once the tipping point has been reached then gravity will take her onto the platform.

 

(2) How much of the interior will have been removed by now. I presume loose fittings such as trables and chairs will have been taken out but what about interior walls ,which I presume, are not weight bearing. Some I suppose will have just disintegrated through being underwater for so long, but will the rest have been removed.

 

Cheers

Clive

[chengkp75]

A couple of questions for our Salvage experts.

 

(1) When the parbuckle takes place, there will come a moment when the chains pulling Concordia upright which are attached to the underwater platform, will have done their job. Am I right in assuming then the chains attached to the anchor blocks will then take over and gently lower her onto the platform. There appear to be some speculation on Giglio News that once the tipping point has been reached then gravity will take her onto the platform.

 

(2) How much of the interior will have been removed by now. I presume loose fittings such as trables and chairs will have been taken out but what about interior walls ,which I presume, are not weight bearing. Some I suppose will have just disintegrated through being underwater for so long, but will the rest have been removed.

 

Cheers

Clive

 

1. This is just my supposition. The wires to the anchor blocks will still only be used to keep the ship from shifting to starboard. The lines on the port side, attached to the top of the caissons will indeed become useless at some point, when the ship wants to fall into the upright position. The lines attached to the towers on top of the anchor blocks are used to pull downwards on the port side to induce a rotation to the ship, but can not slow the ship once it reaches the tipping point. I suspect that the caissons will be used to slow the hull motion once gravity takes over. As the ship rolls to port, the empty caissons will submerge, providing more buoyancy, and maybe enough buoyancy to stop the ship in a given position. They can then fill the caissons in a controlled way to slowly bring the ship upright.

 

2. I've come to looking at the project fairly late, so I'm not sure how much gutting they are doing prior to parbuckling. The only reason I could think of for removing loose items and soft items would be to prevent their falling out of the ship and having to be removed from the seabed later. I wouldn't think that any internal bulkheads would be removed, as it would be more expensive to do this with divers vice doing it while upright at the salvage yard. The ship breaking will proceed deck by deck, stripping the ship from the top down, so that cranes can access the work site as you go (depending on the cranes mobilized for this, large pieces may be cut out and landed ashore for detail breaking and recycling, but again, this will work from top down).

[Uniall]

What one lawyer had to say about Schettino's brief appearance in court:

 

http://etravelblackboardasia.com/article/92292/national-lawyers-strike-suspends-concordia-schettinos-trial

 

Yes Sireee, that's our boy....... :rolleyes:

[chengkp75]

Yes Sireee, that's our boy....... :rolleyes:

 

Not sure which is worse, Schettino's attitude or the fact that the lawyer being quoted is the Miami shark from CruiseLawNews. Just kidding. While I hate Walker, I feel that Schettino deserves far more punishment than it appears is allowable under Italian law.

[Uniall]

Not sure which is worse, Schettino's attitude or the fact that the lawyer being quoted is the Miami shark from CruiseLawNews. Just kidding. While I hate Walker, I feel that Schettino deserves far more punishment than it appears is allowable under Italian law.

 

10 to 20 is a fairly standard sentence in western nations for manslaughter or homcides casued by gross negligence or depraved indifference, etc.

[chengkp75]

10 to 20 is a fairly standard sentence in western nations for manslaughter or homcides casued by gross negligence or depraved indifference, etc.

 

Yes, but the professional mariner in me wants him to serve 32 consecutive sentences!

[clive and anne]

Hi Cheng

I must have misunderstood. I thought the port side caissons were going to have water in them in order to help with the rotation. But if the vessel is going to free fall onto the platform wont this cause one hell of a splash?

I also thought that the anchor blocks on the starboard side has been holding the ship for some time and that cables were going to be attached to the elevated towers of the anchor blocks and attached to the ship or its caissons to give the rotation a soft landing.

Please forgive my ignorance of the salvage process but this is why people like me and Some Beach ask the questions.

[chengkp75]

Hi Cheng

I must have misunderstood. I thought the port side caissons were going to have water in them in order to help with the rotation. But if the vessel is going to free fall onto the platform wont this cause one hell of a splash?

I also thought that the anchor blocks on the starboard side has been holding the ship for some time and that cables were going to be attached to the elevated towers of the anchor blocks and attached to the ship or its caissons to give the rotation a soft landing.

Please forgive my ignorance of the salvage process but this is why people like me and Some Beach ask the questions.

 

Again, just my thoughts. The only way cables could slow the roll once the ship's center of gravity gets beyond the point of contact with the sea bed, would be to be run over the top of the ship to the starboard side towers.

 

There are cables from the port side, low down, to the anchor blocks to keep the ship from shifting, and when the cables on the port side are tightened, the ship would just want to slide, not rotate without these "hold-backs". Other cables will be run to the strand jacks from the lower side of the port caissons under the hull, and up to the towers. Pulling these lines will pull the bottom of the port side down and to starboard, so combined with the port side cables, this will induce rolling. The anchor block cables could be used to go to the towers, as this wrapping around the hull will also help to keep the ship from just sliding.

 

As I've said, once the ship reaches the tipping point, the only way to hold it back would be to have cables over the top. A better way is to have the caissons empty to start, so that they provide a progressive amount of buoyancy as they are submerged. At some point, while the cables could continue to pull and roll the ship over, the force will increase as the buoyancy increases. At this time, they will start to fill the caissons with water, which will reduce the buoyancy, and also add weight to the port side making the ship want to roll more, lessening the need for the cables. This then becomes a balancing act of keeping air in the caissons to act as a brake, while not having too much which will cause the ship to float off the sea bed. The caissons are mainly to provide buoyancy when it comes time to lift. After the ship reaches the upright (without a great splash, hopefully, due to correct ballasting of the caissons and pulling with the cables), the caissons will be filled to their waterlines, or higher, to keep the hull from moving.

 

This kind of counter-flooding and air injection for additional buoyancy (though Concordia will not need air injected since the caissons are empty) is how the Keilland was righted, since there were no anchor point to pull against.

 

I sometimes have difficulty explaining things, but I hope this helps.

Edited July 12, 2013 by chengkp75

[clive and anne]

Thanks Cheng

Your explanations are much clearer than my initial queries.

[Uniall]

Yes, but the professional mariner in me wants him to serve 32 consecutive sentences!

 

LOL Amen to that brother, amen to that. But, in Italy our biggest concern should be a setence that does not allow imprisonment with privately funded special priviliges (wine, fancy meals, luxury minimum security jail, etc) and regular conjugal visits. Or, even worse, some of of the prison term to be served at home.