Princess Chatter

"Choppy waves pushed a protective oil boom onto the rocks on Monday near the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which ran aground off the coast of Italy. Locals are worried about a potential spill."

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/europe-zeroes-in-on-shipping-emissions/

"While crews are all meant to speak English, the same rule does not apply to passengers.

"On large passenger ships it is not unusual to have several dozen nationalities amongst the passengers and amongst the crew, and the experience of many accidents and in an emergency is people tend to revert to their own language," said Andrew Linington with the seafarers' union Nautilus International.

"Conveying some kind of complex announcement and instruction in a highly stressful situation is inherently difficult when (many) nationalities are involved," he said."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/italy-ship-crew-idUSL5E8CU1PN20120130

an 30 (Reuters) - Hours after the Costa Concordia's captain had abandoned ship, and after helping dozens of passengers to safety, Carlos Garrone stripped off his clothes and plunged into the freezing waters off Giglio island and rescued a drowning fellow crew member.

"I risked my life to jump into the water and save a drowning man. To know I saved a man makes me feel good about myself. For me it was a positive experience," he said."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/italy-ship-crew-idUSL5E8CU1PN20120130

"Officials called off both the start of operations to remove of 500,000 gallons of fuel and the search for people still missing after determining the Costa Concordia had moved an inch and a half over six hours, coupled with waves of more than three feet.

University of Florence professor Riccardo Fanti said the ship's movements could either be caused by the ship settling on its own weight, slipping deeper into the seabed, or both. He also could not rule out the ship's sliding along the seabed.

Experts have said it would take 28 days to remove fuel from 15 tanks accounting for more than 80 per cent of all fuel on board the ship. The next job would be to target the engine room, which contains nearly 350 cubic meters of diesel, fuel and other lubricants, Gabrielli said.

Only once the fuel is removed can work begin on removing the ship, either floating it in one piece or cutting it up and towing it away as a wreck. Costa has begun the process for taking bids for the recovery operation, a process that will take two months.

Mr Gabrielli said the actual removal will take from seven to 10 months – meaning that the wreck will be visible from the coast of the Italian island of Giglio for the entire summer tourism season.

Residents of Giglio have been circulating a petition to demand that officials provide more information on how the full-scale operations can coexist with the important tourism season. At the moment, access to the port for private boats has been banned and all boats must stay at least one mile from the wrecked ship, affecting access to Giglio's only harbour for fishermen, scuba divers and private boat owners."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9047774/Costa-Concordia-will-take-10-months-to-be-removed.html

Slip sliding away, slip sliding away. You know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away   Simon and Garfunkel

"ROME — Rough seas and strong winds forced salvage crews to suspend preparations to drain the fuel from a half-sunken luxury liner off the Tuscan coast on Saturday, and officials said the conditions might keep them from resuming work until midweek."


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/world/europe/stormy-seas-delay-fuel-recovery-from-costa-concordia-ship.html?_r=1

"An American Express mailer was recently sent out advertising a seven-night cruise touring Italy, France, and Spain for the tantalising price of $749.

The only problem was the ship to which American Express referred was the stricken Costa Concordia, which is currently half-submerged off the coast of Italy.

The mailer encouraged cardholders to ‘immerse yourself in a truly European experience.’

American Express spokeswoman Christine Elliot said: ‘The mailing was already underway when the accident occurred.

We apologise for any inconvenience to those who received it,’ she told the News.

According to Ms Elliot, production time for mailers is anywhere from six to eight weeks, meaning they were completed long before the accident."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093127/Costa-Concordia-Embarrassment-American-Express-promotes-trip-doomed-liner.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16742405