News Digest

Final voyage: Costa Concordia moves one step closer to scrap heap

The wreck of the Costa Concordia arrived on Sunday off the northern Italian city of Genoa where it will be broken up for scrap, two-and-a-half years after the cruise liner ran aground and sank near the Tuscan island of Giglio, killing 32 people. After a four-day voyage from Giglio of more than 320 kilometres, port pilots began manoeuvering into position the 114,500-tonne hulk, which was lifted off the rocks and re-floated last week as part of one of the largest and most complex maritime salvages ever attempted.

This is not a celebration. We have to think of the victims, but it has to be said that keeping the Concordia in Italy is a great occasion for our country.

Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti

The overall salvage effort is expected to cost Carnival Corp, owner of the ship’s operator, Costa Cruises and its insurers more than US$2.14 billion. A consortium led by Italian engineering group Saipem and Genoa-based San Giorgio del Porto will break up the wreck in an operation that sources close to the project have said could cost US$134.24 million and take up to two years.