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''Costa Concordia'' () was a
cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...
operated by Costa Crociere. She was the first of her class, followed by her sister ships '' Costa Serena'', '' Costa Pacifica'', '' Costa Favolosa'' and '' Costa Fascinosa'', and ''
Carnival Splendor ''Carnival Splendor'' is a operated by Carnival Cruise Line. As she is the only ''Concordia''-class ship in the Carnival fleet, she is also referred to as a ''Splendor-''class ship. Her other sister ships are part of the Costa Cruises, Costa Cr ...
'' built for Carnival Cruise Line. When the 114,137-
ton Ton is any of several units of measure of mass, volume or force. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. As a unit of mass, ''ton'' can mean: * the '' long ton'', which is * the ''tonne'', also called the ''metric ...
''Costa Concordia'' and her
sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...
s entered service, they were among the largest ships built in Italy until the construction of the s. On 13 January 2012 at 21:45, ''Costa Concordia'' struck a rock in the
Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...
just off the eastern shore of
Isola del Giglio Isola del Giglio (; ), or Giglio Island in English, is an Italian island and (municipality) in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Tuscany, and is part of the Province of Grosseto. The island is one of seven that form the Tuscan Archipelago, l ...
. This tore open a gash on the
port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...
side of her hull, which soon flooded parts of the engine room, cutting off power from the engines and ship services. As water flooded in, the ship listed as she drifted back towards the island and grounded near shore, then rolled onto her starboard side, lying in an unsteady position on a rocky underwater ledge. The evacuation of ''Costa Concordia'' took over six hours, and of the 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew known to have been aboard, 32 died. Francesco Schettino, the ship's captain at that time, was tried and found guilty of
manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
, causing a maritime accident, and abandoning his ship. He was sentenced to sixteen years in prison in 2015. The wreck was salvaged three years after the incident and then towed to the
port of Genoa The Port of Genoa is one of the most important seaports in Italy. With a trade volume of 51.6 million tonnes, it is the busiest port of Italy after the port of Trieste by cargo tonnage. Notably the port was used for dismantling the ''Costa Conco ...
, where she was scrapped.


Concept and construction

''Costa Concordia'' was ordered in 2004 by
Carnival Corporation Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...
from
Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...
and built in the Sestri Ponente yard in
Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
, as yard number 6122. At the vessel's launch at Sestri Ponente on 2 September 2005, the champagne bottle, released by model Eva Herzigová, failed to break when swung against the hull the first time. This type of occurrence is considered a bad omen among seafarers, and this incident has been partially blamed for the ship's 2008 accident and 2012 sinking. The ship was delivered to Costa on 30 June 2006. It cost
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450 million (£372 million, ) to build. The name '' Concordia'' was intended to express the wish for "continuing harmony, unity, and peace between
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an nations".


Description

''Costa Concordia'' was long, had a beam of and drew of water. She had a diesel-electric power plant consisting of six 12-cylinder
Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...
12V46C four-stroke medium-speed diesel generating sets with a combined output of . These main generators provided power for all shipboard consumers from propulsion motors to hotel functions such as lighting and air conditioning. The ship was propelled by two 21-megawatt electric motors coupled to fixed-pitch propellers. Her design service speed was , but during sea trials, she achieved a speed of .


Layout

''Costa Concordia'' had 13 public decks, each named after a European country. Deck 1 was the lowest:


Amenities

''Costa Concordia'' was outfitted with approximately 1,500 cabins; 505 with private balconies, and 55 with direct access to the Samsara Spa, which were considered Spa staterooms; 58 suites had private balconies and 12 had direct access to the spa. ''Costa Concordia'' had one of the world's largest exercise facility areas at sea, the Samsara Spa, a two-level, fitness center, with gym, a thalassotherapy pool,
sauna A sauna (, ) is a room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is used to meas ...
,
Turkish bath A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...
and a solarium. The ship had four swimming pools, two with retractable roofs, five Jacuzzis, five spas, and a poolside movie theatre on the main pool deck. There were also five on-board restaurants, with Club Concordia and Samsara taking reservations-only dining. There were thirteen bars, including a cigar and
cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the Communes of France, commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the Departments of France, departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cogn ...
bar and a coffee and chocolate bar. Entertainment options included a three-level theatre,
casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...
, a futuristic disco, a children's area equipped with
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
s and a basketball court. She also had onboard a
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simulator and an
internet café An Internet café, also known as a cybercafé, is a Coffeehouse, café (or a convenience store or a fully dedicated Internet access business) that provides the use of computers with high bandwidth Internet access on the payment of a fee. Usage ...
.


Accidents and incidents


2008 bow damage

On 22 November 2008, ''Costa Concordia'' suffered damage to her bow when high winds over the Sicilian city of
Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
pushed the ship against its dock. There were no injuries and repairs started soon after. Initial repairs were completed by the December following the incident, but dents were still visible. The area was later fully repaired in 2011 during the ship's refurbishment.


2012 grounding and partial sinking

On 13 January 2012, under the command of Captain Francesco Schettino, ''Costa Concordia'' departed
Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (, meaning "ancient town") is a city and major Port, sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea west-northwest of Rome. Its legal status is a ''comune'' (municipality) of Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Rome, Lazio. The harbour is formed by ...
, the port that serves Rome, Italy, for a seven-night cruise. At 21:45 local time (UTC+1), in calm seas and overcast weather, she collided with a rock off
Isola del Giglio Isola del Giglio (; ), or Giglio Island in English, is an Italian island and (municipality) in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Tuscany, and is part of the Province of Grosseto. The island is one of seven that form the Tuscan Archipelago, l ...
, on the western coast of Italy approximately northwest of
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. A long gash was made in the port-side hull, along three compartments of the engine room (deck 0). This resulted in loss of propulsion and loss of electrical systems, which crippled the ship. Taking on water, the vessel listed to the starboard (right) side. Twenty-four minutes later, strong winds pushed the vessel back to
Giglio Island Isola del Giglio (; ), or Giglio Island in English, is an Italian List of islands of Italy, island and (municipality) in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Tuscany, and is part of the Province of Grosseto. The island is one of seven that form ...
, where she grounded north of the village of Giglio Porto, resting on her
starboard Port and starboard are Glossary of nautical terms (M-Z), nautical terms for watercraft and spacecraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the Bow (watercraft), bow (front). Vessels with bil ...
side in shallow waters, with most of her starboard side underwater. Confirms that vessel was holed. Discusses stability issue when large modern ships are holed. Explains heeling first in direction of hole, then in opposite direction. Almost half of the ship remained above water, but it was in danger of sinking completely into a trough deep. Despite the gradual sinking of the ship, its complete loss of power, and its proximity to shore in calm seas, an order to abandon ship was not issued until over an hour after the initial impact. Although international maritime law requires all passengers to be evacuated within 30 minutes of an order to abandon ship, the evacuation of ''Costa Concordia'' took over six hours. At the time, she was carrying 3,206 passengers and 1,023 crew members. The accident resulted in 32 fatalities. The body of the last missing person, Indian crew member Russel Rebello, was recovered on 3 November 2014. It appears that Rebello died while saving other passengers. Schettino was found guilty of
manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
, causing a maritime accident, and abandoning his ship. He was sentenced to sixteen years in prison in 2015.


Salvage

An initial assessment by salvage expert company Smit International estimated that the removal of ''Costa Concordia'' and her 2,380 tonnes of fuel could take up to 10 months. Smit advised that the ship had been damaged beyond the hope of economic repair and recommended it be written off as a constructive total loss. Smit was soon contracted to initially remove only Concordia's fuel. During the fuel removal operation, Smit reported that the ship had shifted in the three weeks since her grounding, but that there was no immediate prospect of her breaking up or sinking deeper. Removal of the fuel from the various fuel tanks distributed throughout the ship was completed in March 2012, later than Smit's initial estimates. This cleared the way to arrange for the ultimate salvaging and scrapping of the ship. On 17 September 2013, ''Costa Concordia'' was brought to a vertical position through a parbuckling procedure. The cost for salvaging the ship increased to $799 million. In addition, the ship had suffered severe hull deformations in two places. Titan Salvage, the company directing the salvage operations, estimated that the next phase of the salvage operation would be completed by early-to-mid-2014. After this "floating" operation, the ship would be towed to a salvage yard on the Italian mainland for scrapping or "breaking". On 14 July 2014, work commenced to refloat ''Costa Concordia'' in preparation for towing. At this point, the costs had risen to €1 billion. Including tow cost, €100 million for the ship to be broken up for scrap and the cost of repairing damage to Giglio island, the estimated final cost was expected to be €1.5 billion ($2 billion). On 23 July, having been refloated, the ship commenced its final journey under tow at a speed of , with a 14-ship escort, to be scrapped in Genoa. It arrived at port on 27 July, after a four-day journey. It was moored to a seawall at the port, awaiting dismantling processes. On 11 May 2015, following initial dismantling, but still kept afloat by the salvage
sponson Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, Instantaneous stability, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing. Watercra ...
s, the hull was towed to the Superbacino dock in Genoa for removal of the upper decks. The last of the sponsons were removed in August 2016 and the hull was taken in to a drydock on 1 September for final dismantling. Scrapping of the ship was completed on 7 July 2017.


Aftermath

On 11 April 2012, a documentary broadcast in the United Kingdom, titled ''Terror at Sea: The Sinking of the Costa Concordia'', and another first broadcast on Channel 4, titled ''The Sinking of the Concordia: Caught on Camera'', featured footage recorded by the passengers and crew. On 14 July 2012, a documentary titled ''Cruise Ship Disaster: Inside the Concordia'', was first broadcast on the
Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...
, ''CNN Presents: Cruise to Disaster'', first broadcast by
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
and another, titled ''Inside Costa Concordia: Voices of Disaster'', was first broadcast by the
National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...
. The season 39 '' Nova'' episode "Why Ships Sink" discusses the sinking of ''Costa Concordia''. A later '' Nova'' season 42 episode "Sunken Ship Rescue" featured the salvage effort and race to refloat and remove the badly damaged ''Costa Concordia'' from the accident scene before the ship could break apart, risking an environmental catastrophe. On 15 February 2013, ABC's '' 20/20'' aired a special on the sinking and interviews with the survivors following the engine fire on .


See also

* '' Socialisme'' * '' The Great Beauty'' * '' Teens Of Denial''


References


External links


Personal account by passenger Peter Wieslaw Grajda

Nautical chart and satellite photo of grounding site
– ''
la Repubblica (; English: "the Republic") is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper with an average circulation of 151,309 copies in May 2023. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and l ...
''
Layout of the Costa Concordia and descriptions of the cabins and deck areas
{{Authority control 2005 ships Cruise ships of Italy Maritime incidents in 2012 Ships built in Genoa Ships built by Fincantieri Ships of Costa Cruises Ships sunk in collisions Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea 2012 in Italy Sunken cruise ships