Tag Archives: Tuscan coast

Livorno ramps up cruise berthing and dedicated terminals

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PHOTO: ANNE KALOSH

Livorno displaying expansion plans at Seatrade Med 2014
Livorno displaying expansion plans at Seatrade Med 2014

Livorno Port Authority and cruise terminal manager Porto di Livorno 2000 are planning to expand the Tuscany port’s cruise berthing and welcoming facilities.

Following the inauguration of a new 3,000 sq mtr cruise facility at Alto Fondale quay last November plus 11,000 sq mtr additional space, this season the terminal has been handling ships over 300mtr long and conducting partial and full turnarounds for up to 2,500 passengers, said Roberto Piccini, president and ceo of Porto di Livorno 2000.

The port also handles cruise ships at Porto Mediceo terminal for vessels up to 200mtr and 7mtr draft, and at Molo Italia pier, which can accommodate ships up to 350mtr with a 12 mtr draft on the southern side. However, this latter facility is mainly used for commercial shipping.

Dredging of the north side of Molo Italia is starting in the coming days he said, which will be completed at the beginning of 2015.

‘This will make space for us to move the remaining commercial shipping activities from Alto Fondale quay, enabling us to expand  the area dedicated to cruise activities.

With finished, Alto Fondale will offer a 750mr dedicated cruise berth capable of accommodating two ships up to 11.8mtr draft.

At the same time work will start on expanding the passenger and services facilities on the same pier,’  Roberto Piccini, president and ceo of Porto di Livorno 2000 cruise terminal told Seatrade Insider.

Additional berthing for cruise ships is now available at Quay 75 which has recently been dredged and can host cruise ships up to 260mtr long with a maximum draft of 8mtr’, said Livorno Port Authority general director Massimo Provinciali.

‘In 2016, Livorno Port Authority will also begin work on creating dedicated berthing for cruise ships at Calata Orlando quay (on the opposite side of Alto Fondale). Dredging and re-profiling the pier-head will allow vessels up to 350mtr long to safely manoeuvre for berthing’, said the Port Authority representative.

With the completion of these activities, Livorno Port will boast two cruise terminals and berths: one capable of handling up to three megaships simultaneously (two plus another on the opposite side), plus Molo Mediceo for ships up to 200mtr long plus one dedicated pier exclusive to cruise traffic.

Diver working on Costa Concordia dies in accident

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Diver working on Costa Concordia dies in accident

A diver is reported to have died while working on the shipwrecked Costa Concordia after apparently gashing his leg on an underwater metal sheet.

Italy’s civil protection agency, which is leading the removal of the Concordia from the Tuscan coast, said the diver was Spanish.

Tuscany’s La Nazione newspaper said the diver had been working on preparations to attach huge tanks on to sides of the Concordia, to float the ship off its false seabed and tow it to a port for eventual dismantling.

The newspaper reported he gashed his leg on an underwater metal sheet and was then unable to get free.

It said he bled heavily before a diver colleague was able to bring him to the surface. He was reportedly conscious upon surfacing but later died, according to Sky News.

He is the first diver to die in the line of work on salvaging the Concordia ever since it hit a reef off the island of Giglio in January 2012, killing 32 passengers and crew.

The Concordia was righted in preparation for removal during a 19-hour engineering feat last autumn, in which a system of pulleys wrenched 115,000-ton cruise ship from its side to vertical.

Charges of evidence tampering filed in Concordia shipwreck

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Charges of evidence tampering filed in Concordia shipwreck

Official press release.

(ANSA) – Grosseto, October 7 – Italian consumer group Codacons announced on Monday it filed charges of evidence manipulation in the Costa Concordia shipwreck probe and delivered the complaint to prosecutors in the Tuscan city of Grosseto.

The trial resumed on Monday of ex-captain Francesco Schettino who was in command of the giant cruiser when it smashed into a rock formation on Giglio Island off the Tuscan coast, on January 13, 2012, causing one of Italy’s largest maritime disasters.

Schettino is accused of multiple manslaughter and dereliction of duty for his role in the shipwreck that killed 32, forced the evacuation of thousands onboard, and caused massive economic damage to Costa Cruises and to Giglio Island, a popular Tuscan tourist destination where the massive ship crashed.

Codacons’ charges concern maintenance records that Costa Cruises delivered to experts during their appraisal of the evidence. ”Specifically, it concerns files related to compulsory tests for the emergency generator, to be performed weekly,” Codacons announced in a note.

”Precisely those related to 10 weeks before the accident – were modified two months after the accident, on March 13, 2012,” Codacons continued. Codacons complained that the values were changed ”all at the same time, in other words within a few dozen seconds, moreover with the insertion of identical values, such as for the temperature of the water and the temperature of the oil”.

”Malfunctioning of the emergency generator (was) a possible cause or secondary cause of the tragic epilogue of the shipwreck in terms of human lives, and is one of the main aspects that Codacons has been fighting from the beginning of the trial, and evidently it is not by chance that the alterations of the data concern precisely that front,” Codacons claimed.

The consumer group called on the Grosseto prosecutor’s office to open an urgent investigation into related facts and relative responsibilities, as well as called for the immediate seizure of documentation