Top Headlines

Costa Concordia, largest passenger vessel to have sunk, slipped towards deep water

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

Costa Concordia, the capsized 114,500 gross ton cruise liner of Costa Crociere, has slipped towards deep water on the rocks where it is resting, media reports say. It is by far the largest passenger vessel that has sunk by this date.

"There was a slippage of nine centimetres vertically and 1.5 centimetres horizontally. We evacuated immediately. This is something we have been worried about," Luca Cari, spokesman for the fire brigade at the island of Gigli was quoted by the Daily Telegraph website as saying.

"The vessel has reservoirs (bunkers) full of fuel, it is a heavy diesel which could sink down to the seabed, that would be a disaster,” another rescue official on the scene told Telegraph.

Earlier today, Carnival Corp & plc that owns Costa Crociere said it estimated the loss of revenue from the accident to rise in the region of $85 million to $95 million. However, it added that cost to the business e.g. in the form of fall in bookings and cancellations of already booked cruises, was impossible to estimate at this point.

Costa Concordia is by far the largest passenger vessel that has sunk. The previous record holder was the 83,673 gross ton Seawise University, which had been built in 1940 as Cunard Line’s first Queen Elizabeth, which caught fire and sank in shallow water in Hong Kong harbour in January 1972.

Almost three decades earlier, in February 1942, fire destroyed the 82,799 gross ton USS Lafayette that had started life in 1935 as Normandie of the French Line and which has been regarded as the finest ship built in the liner era.

The largest passenger vessel lost at open sea rather than in port or proximity to land was the 48,158 gross ton Britannic of the White Star Line. The ship hit a mine in the Aegean Sea while serving as a hospital ship and sank after just one year since entering service. It was the final unit of the three ships of the Olympic class.

UPDATE - Costa Concordia damage “in worst possible area”

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

Pictures of capsized Costa Concordia show severe damage to the hull on the port side, from midshipss towards the stern, but they do not cast light to the question has the vessel sustained damage to its bottom as well, notes Henrik Segercranz, technical editor of Cruise Business Online's sister publication Cruise Business Review. If salvage of the vessel will be attempted, it will be necessary to find out if the hull has suffered damage elsewhere too in addition to its port side.

It is also not yet known at this point if the watertight doors on board the ship had been closed in the course of the events on Friday night, he added.

A report in the Lloyds List shipping daily says that the ship is likely to be scrapped rather than salvaged and that the insurance industry expects a loss in the range of $600 million to $800 million from the accident.

-----

Having compared the photos of the hull damage of Costa Concordia to archieve material on the ship, our own technical editor Henrik Segercrantz comes to the conclusion that the more than 50m long puncture in the port side of the hull struck the worst possible area, involving three to four watertight compartments and damaging both the aft and forward engine rooms.

On a passenger ship two watertight areas punctured should still keep the vessel afloat, but Segercrantz stresses his analysis is very preliminary. "Area 3 in front of the machinery compartments, or area 1 behind, could have been damaged too, or there could have been problems with the watertight doors," he said.

It seems like the master made a manoeuver towards starboard when the ship hit rock, as the damage hole starts lower and ends higher nearer the waterline, indicating the ship was listing towards port while in contact with the rock. Then, as also reported, he turned the ship towards land, resulting the ship to tilt in the other direction.

As far as salvaging and repairing the vessel is concerned, this would be a big operation, if not impossible.

Segercrantz is a qualified naval architect with several years of experience in the shipbuilding industry.

Costa Concordia out of service maybe till next fiscal year, earnings loss up to $95 million

Details: Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

Carnival Corporation & plc says that Costa Concordia will be out of service perhaps into the next financial year of the group that will start on 1 December 2012 and loss of revenue from grounding of the vessel on Friday may reach $95 million.

“A damage assessment review of the vessel is currently being undertaken to determine how long it will be out of service. The vessel is expected to be out of service for the remainder of our current fiscal year if not longer. For the fiscal year ending November 30, the impact to 2012 earnings for loss of use is expected to be approximately $85-$95 million or $0.11-$0.12 per share. In addition, the company anticipates other costs to the business that are not possible to determine at this time,” the company said in a statement.

“The company has insurance coverage for damage to the vessel with a deductible of approximately $30 million as well as insurance for third party personal injury liability subject to an additional deductible of approximately $10 million for this incident. The company self-insures for loss of use of the vessel,” Carnival said.

Costa Crociere statement 15 Jan 2012

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

Genoa, January 15^th 2012 - We at Costa Cruises are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our hearts and prayers go out to everyone affected and offer the determined victims’ families her heartfelt condolences.
Over the past 48 hours, more than 1,100 Costa employees have been working tirelessly in the wake of this terrible event. We are working closely with the authorities to support ongoing search and rescue operations, and are focusing on ensuring that all guests and crewmembers return home safely.

Our immediate priority is to account for all passengers and crew and to secure the vessel to ensure that there are no environmental impacts. We have engaged the services of a worldwide leader specialized salvage company to develop an action plan and help establish a protection perimeter around the ship. It should be noted that the Prosecutor in charge has seized the ship and the DVR-- so called “black box” containing all navigation data and the vessel can be accessed by Costa only with permission from the authorities.

We are working with investigators to find out precisely what went wrong aboard the Costa Concordia. While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship’s Master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences. The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and the Captain’s judgment in handling the emergency appears to have not followed standard Costa procedures. We are aware that the lead Prosecutor has levelled serious accusations against the ship’s Captain, who joined Costa Crociere in 2002 as a Safety Officer and was appointed Captain in 2006, after acting as Staff Captain as well. As all Costa Masters, he has been constantly trained passing all tests.

In light of these accusations and the continuing investigation, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.

As we are learning more about the event itself and the evacuation, however, it is becoming clear that the crew of the Costa Concordia acted bravely and swiftly to help evacuate more than 4,000 individuals during a very challenging situation. We are very grateful for all they have done.

Costa is committed to ensuring that no such incident ever occurs again. Our number one priority is always the safety and security of our guests and crew and we comply with all safety regulations. (See background on Costa safety below).

Background on Costa’s commitment to safety

Costa complies very strictly with all safety regulations and our personnel are committed, first and foremost, to guest safety and security.

All crew members hold a BST (Basic Safety Training) certificate and are trained and prepared to emergency management and to assist passengers abandoning the ship with numerous drills. Roles, responsibilities and duties are clearly assigned to all crew members. Every two weeks all crewmembers perform a ship evacuation simulation. A lifeboat and evacuation drill for all guests is conducted within 24 hours of embarking, as required by law. Costa has a computerised system which ensures all passengers undergo this drill.

The skills of Costa crew are periodically tested by Coastguard authorities and an independent classification organization as per SMS (Safety Management Systems) requirements.

There are lifeboats and jackets on board in excess of the number required for all passengers and crew. Lifeboats are equipped with food and water supplies, first aid kits and communication and signalling equipment. All life-saving appliances are aligned to international standards and are subject to close, regular inspection by shipboard personnel and certification authorities. All Costa ships are certified by RINA and have been built to the highest standards and technologies.

Carnival plc stock 17.5% down in early London trade after Costa Concordia

Details: Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

Carnival plc, the British holding company in Carnival Corp & plc group, suffered a sharp fall in its share price at London opening on Monday, the first trading day after grounding of Costa Concordia on Friday.

At 0915 local time, the shares traded 17.5% lower since the opening at £18.55. However, they had hot a low of £16.00 earlier in the day.

The current share price means that the company has lost almost half of its value since a 52 week high of £31.71 early last year. The shares trade nevertheless well below their lows reached earlier in the economic downturn as in late 2008, they hit a five year low of below £13.00.