Semi-submersible vessel to give Concordia a lift

Posted on 15 January, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

One of the more amazing sights when the space shuttle program was in its prime was the 83-ton shuttle atop a Boeing 747 being ferried from its landing field at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The shuttle needed an assist because, other than its launch and return from earth orbit, it could not fly on its own.

Something similar may be in store for the partly raised Costa Concordia cruise ship. The salvage team for the Concordia has secured an option to use the Dockwise Vanguard to transport Concordia, which would be a first for the world’s largest semi-submersible vessel.

Dockwise is a Dutch firm that specializes in semi-submersibles. The vessels fill their ballast tanks to sink below a cargo, and then expel water to float them on large, flat cargo decks. *TomStieghorst

The Dockwise approach offers time and energy savings over towing large loads. Yacht captains have been using the Dockwise for years to transport their boats on long-distance journeys, saving wear, tear and crew costs.

But Dockwise Vanguard was not built for small payloads like mega-yachts. It was built to transport marine oil- and gas-drilling rigs, such as the Chevron Corp.’s 53,000-ton Jack/St. Malo oil platform, which it ferried from South Korea to the Gulf of Mexico last year.

The Concordia would be a bigger bite. According to the salvage team, Concordia will weigh about 75,000 tons, or about 1.5 million pounds, once it is refloated this June.

Dockwise Vanguard can handle it. The 900-foot-long ship, which was delivered last year, has a rated capacity of 110,000 tons. Of course, such a unique vessel doesn’t come cheap. The salvage team has paid $30 million just to secure an option to use the Vanguard for the job.

Without it, the Concordia would be towed in the conventional manner to port. But the seaworthiness of a ship that has been lying on its side in the ocean for two years is an open question.

What would it look like? You can see an online animation by Boskalis, the Dutch parent company of Dockwise, which shows how the Concordia would be loaded on Vanguard.

For the cruise industry, it can’t happen too soon.

Costa Concordia refloating scheduled to happen in June

Posted on 13 January, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

Italian authorities and Costa Cruises executives held a briefing in Italy updating the progress on refloating the Costa Concordia.

The update comes a few days before the second anniversary of the partial sinking of the Costa ship.

Engineers pulled the Concordia upright last fall and are preparing to refloat the ship before towing it to port to be scrapped.

Project managers are targeting June to move the wreck from Giglio Island to an as-yet-unknown destination. Prior to that, they will attach another 19 sponsons to the hull.

The plan calls for sponsons to be fastened to the ship in April. Then water will be pumped out of the tank-like sponsons, providing buoyancy to raise the ship off its fabricated platform about 30 meters below the surface to a depth of about 18.5 meters.

A total of 2042.5 cubic meters of fuel and 240 cubic meters of sewage were removed from the ship last March, along with 240 tons of material from the seabed, according to the project briefing materials.

Authorities initially contacted 30 salvage companies and are in the process of picking one. The field has been winnowed to companies from Italy, France, Norway, the U.K. and Turkey, with final selection expected in early March.

The project has a $30 million option to retain the Dockwise Vanguard, the world’s largest semi-submersible vessel, as an alternative for transporting Concordia.

About 60% of the direct spending on the recovery (about 261 million euros) has benefited Italy, with another 21% of the benefits flowing to the U.S., 12% to the U.K., 3.8% to the Netherlands and 2.6% to Germany, the project said.

It estimated the overall impact on Italy’s GDP at 540 million euros.

Carnival Corp. eyes interbrand cooperation

Posted on 1 January, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

Carnival Corp. will step up efforts to have its 10 brands cooperate to produce cost savings and take advantage of the company’s scale of operations to boost profits, CEO Arnold Donald told analysts last week.

In a conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings, Donald indicated that strategy would be a cornerstone of his management of the $30 billion company.

“We do plan to change the focus of our efforts and how we work together,” Donald said. “The brands were fiercely independent in the past and even protected information from each other. So it is a culture change.”

But he reiterated that he will not merge any of the brands.

“Operating our brands independently has been successful, and it has led to our industry-leading position,” he said. “The brands will remain independent, especially at the guest-interface level as they become increasingly distinct in the psychographics of the guests they service.”

ArnoldDonald Donald made his comments as Carnival reported a 29% drop in Q4 net income, to $66 million. Revenue fell to $3.6 billion, from $3.7 billion.

Carnival forecasted that 2014 profits will be in the range of between $1.08 billion to $1.39 billion after falling 16.8%, to $1.1 billion, this year.

Carnival Corp. Chairman Micky Arison said that having both Carnival Cruise Lines and Costa Cruises in recovery mode led to a fairly wide range in potential profitability in 2014.

“How Wave season shakes out becomes increasingly important,” Arison said.

To date, 2014 bookings for all Carnival brands are running behind the same period a year ago at comparable prices. Carnival said it expects revenue yields in the first quarter to be down 3% to 4% and to recover throughout the rest of the year, entering positive territory in the second half.

In Q4, ticket prices were down 3% and onboard spending was up 1%, producing a 2% decline in yield.

But yields from North American brands, primarily Carnival Cruise Lines, were down 6%. Donald said that public perception and recognition of the Carnival brand have recovered 75% from their low point, according to surveys.

He said the recovery has been faster than originally anticipated. A 6.5% jump in cruise costs in Q4 throughout Carnival Corp. was attributed partly to higher advertising.

Donald said Carnival will continue greater-than-usual marketing expenditures in 2014.

One analyst asked about a critical CNN report on the Carnival Triumph that aired last week. The story, based on discovery in a negligence lawsuit filed by Houston lawyer Frank Spagnoletti, alleged that Carnival officials knew the ship had a “propensity for fires.”

Donald called the lawsuit “frivolous” and said the CNN report “mischaracterized the situation.”

Asked about installing scrubber technology to reduce air pollution, Carnival Corp. CFO David Bernstein said the company now expected that the technology would save a “majority” of the $265 million Carnival had previously estimated it would cost to comply with 2015 requirements of the North American Emissions Control Area.

The company didn’t quantify savings from its planned interbrand collaboration initiatives but said onboard spending and price optimization would be two areas where revenues could be enhanced, while procurement, inventory management and port planning were among cost centers being studied.