Cleaning up Captain Coward’s mess is going to be a heavy lift.
Salvage experts say giant barges with cranes and a complicated block-and-tackle system will be needed to right the listing cruise vessel Costa Concordia.
Because the wreck is near shore, salvagers will anchor the ship to cables or chains attached to dry land to keep it from sliding into deeper water, said Tim Beaver, president of the American Salvage Association.
On the sea side of the wreck, giant floating barges carrying tall cranes wil be positioned to try to raise the ship, Beaver said.
Before attempting a righting operation, salvagers would pump water from some of the ship’s compartments — and maybe add it to others so it is properly ballasted, Beaver said.
If the damage is so severe the ship can’t be refloated, the Costa Concordia could be cut up right where it lies, and the pieces hauled away by barge.
Even if the hull is fully repaired, Costa would have to spend hundreds of millions to make the liner shipshape, said Richard Burke, chairman of the engineering department at SUNY Maritime in The Bronx.