Costa Concordia Nearly One Year Later

Credit: Roberto Vongher  courtesy Wikipedia

 The Grim Reminder

Salvage of the Costa Concordia continues one year after the deadly accident where 30 people lost their lives during what should have been a routine sailing past Giglio, Italy.

As the ship lays on it's side, 60 Minutes visited the ship for a close up look at the salvage activities. They used special drone cameras, barges, small vessels, and several other cameras to capture the onboard experience almost a year later.

Watch this video to see some highlights of their visit.
A 60 Minutes crew delved inside the wrecked Costa Concordia to bring the first look
inside the cruise liner since it sank in January last year, killing 32 people.
More coverage from CBS News:   Costa Concordia: Salvaging a shipwreck


Impact of the Tragedy 

The clock onboard Costa Concordia is frozen in time reflecting the moment when the ship lost power. Earlier that day, passengers were anxiously awaiting the start of their holiday at sea as they boarded the ship. Little did they know that for some of their fellow passengers, these were some of their final moments here on earth.

There are many tangible and intangible impacts of this accident. Obviously, there's the cost of the rescue and salvage operations, the medical, funeral, and insurance costs to families and cruise lines. The rescue and salvage costs are proving to be much larger than even predicted several months ago. The ecosystem off this Italian coastal community has suffered losses that can't easily be measured.

Costa Cruises and parent company, Carnival Corporation were at the forefront of the industry losses, but the impact was far reaching and continues to have an impact as measures are taken across the industry to put additional safeguards in place.

For the families directly impacted by the loss of loved ones or injuries, there is emotional costs in addition to the tangible expenses. It is hard to imagine the grief that they feel. Even this article will bring back memories for those that were traumatized by the event. Our heart reaches out to all that were impacted.

Moving Forward

The cruise industry has an excellent safety record, even counting this accident and that of the Titanic one hundred years earlier.   As mentioned, CLIA, and other international over-seeing bodies, have conducted investigations and made recommendations for safety improvements as a result of the accident. We can perhaps take some solace that out of the darkness emerged some good as a result.

The industry held its breath wondering what the reaction would be by the cruising public.   It turns out that those that have sailed before, continue to sail, and many new passengers have experienced a cruise for the first time since that chilly day in January last year.  There is a large percentage of the population (close to 80%) that still hasn't cruised, so the cruise lines continue to expand their inventories to accommodate the expected growth.

There will undoubtedly be a resurgence in press coverage as we get closer to the actual anniversary.  We will continue our coverage and attempt to find representative information to share with you.

Anchor Blog Article:  Costa Concordia Listing after Deadly Accident