Tag Archives: italian authorities

Goddess of the Night Reportedly Detained by Italian Authorities

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The Goddess of the Night has reportedly been detained by Italian authorities while docked at the Port of Brindisi.

According to Reuters, the 2,720-guest vessel was seized on Wednesday following complaints about poor sanitary conditions onboard.

The ship, owned by Seajets, was impounded by order of local prosecutors to allow further investigations, the agency said.

The Goddess of the Night was chartered by the Italian government to serve as a floating hotel during the 50th Summit of the Group of Seven (G7).

The ship was supposed to accommodate police forces serving at the event, which is taking place in Italy’s Apulia region.

Since arriving in Brindisi earlier this week, however, the 103,000-ton vessel has been criticized for its poor sanitary condition, Reuters reported.

Unions claim that many cabins could not be used due to water leaks, broken air conditioning and malfunctioning toilets.

As a result, officers who were set to stay on the vessel have now been transferred to hotels and another ship, the news agency said.

Citing the local police forces, Reuters said that initial investigations carried out onboard showed “significant hygienic-sanitary criticalities and serious accommodation deficiencies.”

According to Italian media, the local government paid around 6.5 million euros to charter the Goddess of the Night for eight days.

The vessel was scheduled to house over 2,600 public security and police officers. In addition to the use of the ship’s staterooms and public areas, the charter deal included catering services, with three meals set to be served onboard per day.

Built for Carnival Corporation’s Costa Cruises brand, the Goddess of the Night was sold to Greece-based Seajets in early 2023.

The ship has been out of service since early 2020, the 2004-built ship is poised to soon launch service for a new cruise brand, Neonyx Cruises.

The first sailing of the brand, which will offer an adults-only product focused on parties and nightlife, is set to depart on July 15, 2024.

The clock is ticking for Concordia salvage

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The clock is ticking for Concordia salvage

By Tom Stieghorst

*InsightTime is running short for the next act in the Costa Concordia saga.

Italian authorities have given the go-ahead for marine salvage companies to try to tip the massive ship up off its sloped resting spot and onto a platform shelf constructed on the seabed. Once vertical, workers will be able to weld caissons onto the starboard side that will be used to refloat the ship.

The tipping maneuver, called parbuckling, may be the trickiest part of the entire operation. And despite gaining approvals, the salvage companies may yet hold off on the operations.*TomStieghorst

Delays have been the rule rather than the exception in righting the Concordia. Initially the ship was to have been raised and towed away in January, a date that slipped to March and then to September.

Salvage leaders say they will probably only get one chance once they start the process of winching the ship upright. The ship is being raised by the U.S. company Titan Salvage and Micoperi of Italy. Once up and ready to be removed, it will be towed to the port of Piombino to be scrapped.

Already there is concern about Concordia’s starboard side, which has been under water for a year-and-a-half. It could buckle under the strain as the ship pivots upright.

However, leaving it lie on its side where it ran aground in January 2012 risks further deterioration, as the weight of the ship presses down on structures that weren’t designed for their current loads.

Salvage leader Nick Sloane said the ship has already compressed by about 10 feet since it came to rest on the granite outcrop off Giglio Island.

So the clock is ticking on the parbuckling operation, which is only the first stage of the removal process.

The current plan calls for the ship to remain on its platform over the winter while engineers ready it for refloat in the spring of 2014.

The cruise industry has an interesting in seeing the salvage of Concordia succeed without any further delay. Rightly or wrongly, a procedure that doesn’t go as planned, or one that creates environmental damage, will only create further undesirable associations for cruising in the public mind.

Concordia captain navigated ship off course, says Costa CEO

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Concordia captain navigated ship off course, says Costa CEO

By Donna Tunney

Francesco Schettino, captain of the partially sunken Costa Concordia, diverted from the cruise line’s normal route from Civitavecchia to Savona, Italy, Costa Cruises CEO Pier Luigi Foschi said in a media briefing Monday.

Foschi explained that Costa ships sail the Concordia’s northern route out of Civitavecchia 100 times a year, using detailed charts.

Schettino, who has been detained by Italian police, diverted from the route so that passengers could view the Tuscan island of Giglio up close, Foschi said.

The cruise ship struck rocks near Giglio on Friday, and the ship tilted into the sea.

Since the Italian authorities have seized the ship and all navigational records, Foschi said it is unclear which charts Schettino was using.

“We are working with investigators who will understand what happened. We have to inform all of you that the prosecutor has the ‘black box,’ which has all the information to enable us to understand what happened,” Foschi said.

Emergency search-and-rescue teams have been combing through the wrecked ship since the weekend and found three survivors and the bodies of two passengers who died inside the vessel.

The death toll from the accident is six, according to reports. Twenty-nine people are still unaccounted for, the Italian Coast Guard said on Monday evening. Authorities earlier said that 16 people were missing.

Four crew members and 25 passengers are still missing. According to Fox News, a U.S. couple from Minnesota is among the missing.

There were more than 4,200 passengers and crew aboard the Concordia.

Costa hired a salvage company on Sunday to determine how to remove the ship from its location in about 98 feet of water.

Foschi said the company is “very, very concerned” about environmental impact, since the Concordia was loaded with 2,300 tons of fuel. The ship had departed Civitavecchia on a seven-day Western Mediterranean cruise a few hours before the collision.

Initial reports that the ship had grounded may have been mistaken, given the confirmed depth of the water.

Foschi said that arrangements would be made for passengers booked on future Concordia sailings. “This has not been our priority right now,” he said.

Foschi added that it’s too soon to determine whether there will be an inordinate number of cancellations in the wake of the disaster.

“We will be looking into that,” he said.

He said that Costa’s loyal customers and its “quality track record over 60 years” would help ensure its future operations.

Costa’s reputation eventually will emerge as strong as it was before the Concordia disaster, said Foschi.

This report was updated Monday evening to add that 29 people on the Costa Concordia were unaccounted for.