The 114,500 tonne, 3,000 passenger ship made its debut over the weekend, where even the choice of godmother was a low-key choice — with Elsa Gnudi, the daughter of Italy's minister of tourism, Pier Gnudi, chosen for the role. The ceremony included a minutes silence for the 32 people who lost their lives onboard Costa Concordia.
Despite the tragedy earlier in the year, Costa Cruises executives are positive of an upturn in fortunes for the cruise line, and the launch of the Costa Fascinosa seems like the most apt way to show that. Costa's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pier Luigi Foschi, said the company has "bounced back... [and that] booking volumes are back to the same levels recorded this time last year... Our share of the market in the main countries where we operate has not been affected. We were, are and will remain number one in Europe."
Another aspect of the christening related to the Concordia tragedy, was the launch of Costa's new real-time route monitoring system. This falls into place with last month's new safety procedures announcement from the Cruise Lines International Associated. The new safety legislation includes the implementation of passage planning, where each passage plan is thoroughly briefed to all bridge team members and has to be drafted by a designated officer and approved by the ship's master.
Costa Fascinosa departed on her pre-inaugural five night cruise visiting ports in Italy, Slovenia and Croatia over the weekend and will take her inaugural cruise on Friday — a ten night sailing around the Eastern Med.
Written by Stephen Adam
© Iglucruise
The initial plans are to concentrate on the first of fifteen tanks that are believed to hold 84% of the ship's fuel. The process involves attaching two valves to each fuel tank, one at the bottom and one at the top and slowly pumping the fuel out. The engineers will also need to carefully warm the fuel to reduce viscosity in order to make the process more efficient.
The fuel is then being pumped to crane barge alongside the ship, before being transferred to a waiting oil tanker. The process is expected to take four weeks to complete.
Costa have been waiting two weeks for the process to begin due to various weather conditions making it too unsafe to begin, as there were fears the ship could move from its resting place. There is now a matter of urgency to prevent any fuel leaking onto Giglio's pristine coastline, though no major leaks have been reported as yet.
Costa have yet to announce whether the ship will be salvaged or taken apart for removal, though the entire process is expected to take seven to ten months, regardless of how the Costa Concordia is moved.
On Sunday Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and other senior officials attended a memorial mass in Rome for the victims of the tragedy.
Napolitano said: "[he was sorry that what transpired] was the responsibility of Italy and Italians... We must continue to investigate. Prosecutors deserve respect for the job they're doing."
Written by Stephen Adam
© Iglucruise