Concordia floats off to final grave

The Costa Concordia, refloated two weeks ago by South African salvage master Nick Sloane, arrived in the Italian port of Genoa yesterday. It is to be stripped of steel, copper and other material worth millions of rands before it is dismantled.

The entire operation of scrapping what was once the pride of the Costa Cruises fleet is expected to take almost two years and cost £80-million (R1.4-billion).

Work on the ship will begin today.

The 14-deck, 115000-ton ship will be dismantled in the very port in which it was built in 2005, and 80% of the liner will be recycled and reused.

This includes 40000 to 50000 tons of steel, which will be melted down and used to produce girders and reinforcing rods for the construction of homes and office buildings. Some of the steel could be used to build new ships.

The steel will also be turned into sheeting that can be used in the production of cars and appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines.