Ceccarelli engineering is based in Ravenna (like Microperi) and is partnered with Microperi in the Costa Concordia disaster.
The translation in the profiles page could use a hand.
In fact, it's one common feature I've noticed since starting this blog. Italian companies have yet to, judging by the text, focus on English translation. In my view, it's an important aspect of how you want to project your company and convey its mission.
Because Italy is more than a geographic expression..
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Engineering Philosophies Tested In Costa Concordia Recovery
The Costa Concordia catastrophe's recovery project is fast approaching $1 billion (originally estimated to be about $300 million) and is testing engineering minds in the process.
A remarkable story of human ingenuity is rising amidst the disaster as both Italian and international talent and resources are being committed to removing the massive cruise liner from where it hauntingly lays half submerged at an angle in water on the island of Giglio in Tuscany.
Giglio, a hidden gem for tourists, also produces expensive tiles.
The design and material needed falls right into the abilities of Italian know-how but it's a challenge made much more complex given the delicate and rich marine life that exists under the ship thus dismissing the possibility of simply blowing it to bits.
Der Spiegel writes:
"On the island of Giglio, they are currently preparing the most spectacular shipwreck towing maneuver in maritime history. Never before has such a colossal cruise ship been raised to an upright position. The vessel is 290 meters (951 feet) long and 36 meters (118 feet) wide. It has a displacement of 50,000 metric tons. To make matters worse, it's lying in a precarious position on a rocky slope and is in danger of sliding into deeper water. The salvage is expected to cost at least €300 million ($387 million) and will set new technical and environmental standards."
The plan to literally pull the ship onto a plank is a hit or miss scenario according to experts involved.
"...In early May, four months after the ship ran aground, a technical committee comprised of representatives of the shipping company, shipbuilding companies and additional experts awarded the contract to Titan Salvage and Micoperi, a company based in Ravenna, Italy that specializes in underwater constructions such as oil platforms. Six other companies had also bid on the project, including specialists working for Smit from Rotterdam, who until just a few weeks ago had been pumping the heavy fuel out of the wreck. The Dutch were so popular that Giglio residents performed a Mexican wave for them down at the harbor. Smit was also the company that achieved the feat in 2003 of cutting apart a sunken car freighter in the English Channel and removing it piece by piece.
The committee decided against cutting apart the Costa Concordia, and instead opted for the most expensive proposal -- the plan to bring the capsized ship to an upright position. To achieve this, they will use a kind of rolling maneuver called the parbuckling principle. For the experiment, 33-meter high watertight steel boxes, or caissons, will be attached to the sides of the ship and used as floats. From an underwater platform deeply anchored in the bedrock, 36 steel cables, each as thick as a lamppost, will extend to the upper edge of the caissons. These cables will be used to almost silently rotate the ship out of its tilted position. It will have taken one year to painstakingly prepare the maneuver, but it will require less than two hours to perform it -- if all goes well."
"...It has already become clear that the salvage operation with Titan Salvage and Micoperi has set the stage for the clash of two very different corporate cultures: One is a team of daredevil problem solvers who rope down from helicopters to the decks of stricken tankers and lasso abandoned ships on the high seas as if they were wild horses. The other is a group of designer engineers who work meticulously according to official guidelines, where each step is coordinated with the coast guard, the Environment Ministry, the region of Tuscany or the mayor of Giglio. In situations like this, Italy's bureaucrats can be very fussy. On numerous occasions, Micoperi engineers have urged their colleagues from Titan Salvage to show more respect for rules and regulations: "We are not in Bangladesh."
The enormity and complexity of the task is something worth following.
More on the story here.
Microperi website here.
A remarkable story of human ingenuity is rising amidst the disaster as both Italian and international talent and resources are being committed to removing the massive cruise liner from where it hauntingly lays half submerged at an angle in water on the island of Giglio in Tuscany.
Giglio, a hidden gem for tourists, also produces expensive tiles.
The design and material needed falls right into the abilities of Italian know-how but it's a challenge made much more complex given the delicate and rich marine life that exists under the ship thus dismissing the possibility of simply blowing it to bits.
Der Spiegel writes:
"On the island of Giglio, they are currently preparing the most spectacular shipwreck towing maneuver in maritime history. Never before has such a colossal cruise ship been raised to an upright position. The vessel is 290 meters (951 feet) long and 36 meters (118 feet) wide. It has a displacement of 50,000 metric tons. To make matters worse, it's lying in a precarious position on a rocky slope and is in danger of sliding into deeper water. The salvage is expected to cost at least €300 million ($387 million) and will set new technical and environmental standards."
The plan to literally pull the ship onto a plank is a hit or miss scenario according to experts involved.
"...In early May, four months after the ship ran aground, a technical committee comprised of representatives of the shipping company, shipbuilding companies and additional experts awarded the contract to Titan Salvage and Micoperi, a company based in Ravenna, Italy that specializes in underwater constructions such as oil platforms. Six other companies had also bid on the project, including specialists working for Smit from Rotterdam, who until just a few weeks ago had been pumping the heavy fuel out of the wreck. The Dutch were so popular that Giglio residents performed a Mexican wave for them down at the harbor. Smit was also the company that achieved the feat in 2003 of cutting apart a sunken car freighter in the English Channel and removing it piece by piece.
The committee decided against cutting apart the Costa Concordia, and instead opted for the most expensive proposal -- the plan to bring the capsized ship to an upright position. To achieve this, they will use a kind of rolling maneuver called the parbuckling principle. For the experiment, 33-meter high watertight steel boxes, or caissons, will be attached to the sides of the ship and used as floats. From an underwater platform deeply anchored in the bedrock, 36 steel cables, each as thick as a lamppost, will extend to the upper edge of the caissons. These cables will be used to almost silently rotate the ship out of its tilted position. It will have taken one year to painstakingly prepare the maneuver, but it will require less than two hours to perform it -- if all goes well."
"...It has already become clear that the salvage operation with Titan Salvage and Micoperi has set the stage for the clash of two very different corporate cultures: One is a team of daredevil problem solvers who rope down from helicopters to the decks of stricken tankers and lasso abandoned ships on the high seas as if they were wild horses. The other is a group of designer engineers who work meticulously according to official guidelines, where each step is coordinated with the coast guard, the Environment Ministry, the region of Tuscany or the mayor of Giglio. In situations like this, Italy's bureaucrats can be very fussy. On numerous occasions, Micoperi engineers have urged their colleagues from Titan Salvage to show more respect for rules and regulations: "We are not in Bangladesh."
The enormity and complexity of the task is something worth following.
More on the story here.
Microperi website here.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Saving Italy
"Italy has long been identified by its cultural treasures; Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper is but one. Its ancient cities - Rome, Syracuse and Pompeii; jewel box towns - Venice, San Gimignano, and Urbino; places of worship - St Peter's Basilica, Florence's Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore), and Padua's Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel; and iconic monuments - the Colosseum, Leaning Tower, and Ponte Vecchio, have been so studied and admired through literature, verse and image that they have become the shared heritage of all mankind." Prelude (p. 5) to 'Saving Italy' by Robert Edsel.
I picked up this book over the week end and it so happens a movie called The Monuments Men was made based on the story of remarkable men who set to preserve and save Italy's cultural heritage from the Nazi's in WWII. The film is set to hit theaters in Decmember 2013. I don't know how much of it will consider Italy, but the book is all about it.
The above passage is powerful - and to anyone who has visited Italy or has come appreciate its history, this is but scratching the surface. The country holds more Unesco heritage sites than any country. The country isn't a geographic expression; it's a cultural expression. When one sees Italy on a map or atlas, it may as well be staring into the world's museum. I remember reading somewhere years ago in travel book it's been thought that Italy holds 60% of all Europe's cultural legacy and 40% of the world's." In addition, economically speaking, it produces about 45% of the world's luxury items.
Italy, simply, baffles.
I picked up this book over the week end and it so happens a movie called The Monuments Men was made based on the story of remarkable men who set to preserve and save Italy's cultural heritage from the Nazi's in WWII. The film is set to hit theaters in Decmember 2013. I don't know how much of it will consider Italy, but the book is all about it.
The above passage is powerful - and to anyone who has visited Italy or has come appreciate its history, this is but scratching the surface. The country holds more Unesco heritage sites than any country. The country isn't a geographic expression; it's a cultural expression. When one sees Italy on a map or atlas, it may as well be staring into the world's museum. I remember reading somewhere years ago in travel book it's been thought that Italy holds 60% of all Europe's cultural legacy and 40% of the world's." In addition, economically speaking, it produces about 45% of the world's luxury items.
Italy, simply, baffles.
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