According to a statement, the operation to right the Costa Concordia (known as “parbuckling”) has been given the go-ahead for this month: this was the outcome of a meeting convened in Rome today at the headquarters of the Civil Protection Department, by the Emergency Commissioner Franco Gabrielli, and attended by representatives from the Advisory Committee, the Observatory, the Micoperi-Titan Consortium and Costa Crociere.

Final authorization to proceed with the operation to rotate the wreck is subject to submission of all the test certificates following inspection of all the finished structures and tocompletion of the preliminary activities required before the actual parbuckling can begin.

All of this should take place by the end of next week; at any time thereafter, as soon as the sea and weather conditions are favorable, the operation torotate the wreck into an upright position can begin, according to the parbuckling website.

The parties present at the Rome meeting all contributed to the discussions – within their respective areas of expertise – providing guidelines and instructions that the contracted firms will be obliged to abide by during the parbuckling andwhich were added to the final document drafted subsequently.

“Over the months, in fact, the potential risks associated with theparbuckling were assessed and specific precautionary measures were taken accordingly. In this regard, a comparison was made between the risk of leaving the ship upright throughout the winter, exposed to adverse sea and weather conditions, or else leaving the wreck in its currenttilted position for the same period of time; the conclusionreached was that the former option is preferable to the latter – another winter left lying at an unnatural angle would possibly have comprised the parbuckling operation if this had been delayed until next spring. The meeting also agreed on a weighty document dealing with management of the water inside the hull; indeed, since the start of August,preliminary work has been proceeding involving the“remediation” of the liquid material and its removal from some accessible parts of the ship,” said the statement.

Arrangements were also made to inform the population of Giglio about the latest developments.
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A few days from now, a press conference will be held to announce to the media the likely date of commencement of the operation, which is still to be determined.