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Schettino News

10 Oct 2023

Amazon Drought Chokes River Traffic, Threatens Exports

© Pulsar Imagens / Adobe Stock

A severe drought choking major rivers in the Amazon rainforest has disrupted ship traffic near the region's biggest city and pushed up costs for northern shipping routes, raising risks for corn exports in coming months.The unusual heat and dryness, linked to the mass deaths of fish and river dolphins, has already limited local communities'access to food and drinking water, leading the federal government to set up a humanitarian task force. Officials are now warning the thinning rivers could disrupt grains exports in the region."There is concern about shipping part of the corn harvest…

13 Jan 2022

Ten Years on, Costa Concordia Shipwreck Still Haunts Survivors, Islanders

Credit: biancia

Ester Percossi can still hear the screams, feel the cold and see the terror in people's eyes.She is one of the survivors of the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia, the luxury cruise liner that capsized after hitting rocks just off the coast of the small Italian island of Giglio on Jan. 13, 2012, killing 32 people in one of Europe's worst maritime disasters.Percossi and other survivors have returned to the island to pay tribute to the dead and again thank the islanders who, in the dark and dead of winter…

12 May 2017

Costa Concordia Captain Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison

© Samuele Gallini / Adobe Stock

The former captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday by Italy's highest court for his role in the 2012 shipwreck, which killed 32 people off the island of Giglio, a court official said. Francesco Schettino was originally found guilty in 2015 of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his passengers. Friday's ruling exhausted his appeals process, with the court rejecting his claim that others bore the blame for the disaster. Free pending the decision, the 56-year-old Schettino is expected to start his jail sentence in the coming hours.

31 May 2016

Costa Concordia Captain's Sentence Upheld

Costa Concordia (File photo courtesy of Boskalis)

The prison sentence against the former captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner for his role in the deadly 2012 shipwreck was upheld on Tuesday by an Italian court. Both Francesco Schettino, who was commanding the ship when it hit rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio, killing 32 people, and the prosecutor had appealed against the 16 years and one month sentence handed down last year. But the Florence appeals court upheld the term. Schettino was found guilty last year by a different court of multiple manslaughter…

13 Feb 2015

Costa Cruises Seeks to Reassure Italy over Job Loss Fears

Photo: Costa Cruises

A unit of one of the world's biggest cruise operators sought to reassure Italy on Friday that plans to transfer some of its operations to Germany did not mean it would move abroad. Costa Cruises, part of Carnival Corp, is based in the northern Italian port of Genoa, but transport workers union FIT-CISL fears the company's transfer plan spells job losses. Unions are concerned that the transfer of four Costa Cruises units to Hamburg would result in the loss of about 160 jobs and…

11 Feb 2015

Costa Concordia Captain Sentenced to 16 Years

Captain Francesco Schettino was sentenced to 16 years in prison after an Italian court found him guilty of  manslaughter today for his role in the 2012 sinking of the Costa Concordia. The 52-year old was captain of a cruise liner carrying 4,252 passengers  when it sank off the coast of Isola del Giglio, Tuscany in January 2012, killing 32 people. Schettino was accused of taking the liner too close to shore and abandoning the ship while passengers and crew were still on board. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 26 years and three months. Schettino was not in the Grosseto court when the verdict was read. Schettino claimed he had taken the ship so close to land for "commercial reasons" and to please his passengers and those ashore, the BBC reported.

11 Feb 2015

Costa Concordia's Schettino Awaits Verdict

Schettino accused over loss of cruiseship in January 2012. Charges include manslaughter, causing shipwreck, abandoning ship. The former captain of the doomed Costa Concordia on Wednesday gave his final address to a court where he is being tried over the loss of the giant cruiseliner, saying he had been made a scapegoat in a disaster in which 32 people died in January 2012. The court in Grosseto, Italy, may hand down a verdict as early as Wednesday evening for Schettino, 54, on charges of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship, defence lawyers said. Investigators severely criticised his handling of the disaster…

26 Jan 2015

26-year Jail Term Sought for Concordia Master

An Italian prosecutor asked a court on Monday to sentence the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner to more than 26 years in jail for his role in the 2012 disaster that killed 32 people. Francesco Schettino was the commander of the vessel, a floating hotel as long as three football pitches, when it came too close to shore and hit rocks off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio. In summing up arguments at the trial in the nearby of Grosseto, Prosecutor Maria Navarro said Schettino should serve 14 years for manslaughter and causing injuries, nine for causing a shipwreck, three for abandoning ship, and a further three months for giving false testimony. The trial is expected to go to the jury next month.

17 Nov 2014

Italy Region, Island Seek $274m in Concordia Damages

Photo courtesy of The Parbuckling Project

Officials for Italy's Tuscany region and the island of Giglio said on Monday they would seek a total of 220 million euros ($274 million) in damages from Costa Cruises, a unit of Carnival Corp, for the 2012 Concordia cruise liner disaster. The Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew when it struck rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio and capsized, killing 32 people. The ship remained partially submerged near the port of the holiday island for more than…

06 Aug 2014

Professor in Hot Water for Hosting Costa Concordia Captain

Costa Concordia aground (Photo: WikiCommons)

A professor who invited the disgraced captain of the capsized Costa Concordia to speak at a criminology seminar has been referred to the ethics committee at Rome's La Sapienza University, the university said on Wednesday. Professor Vincenzo Mastronardi held the seminar last month reconstructing the January 2012 shipwreck in which 32 people died, complete with 3D graphics and comments from the ship's captain Francesco Schettino, the university said. Schettino is on trial for manslaughter and accused of causing the incident and abandoning the 114…

23 Jul 2014

Concordia Finally Heads for Scrapyard

Photo courtesy of The Parbuckling Project

The rusty hulk of the Costa Concordia began its journey to the scrapyard on Wednesday, after a two-year salvage operation off the Italian island where the cruise liner capsized two years ago, killing 32 people. Boats sounded horns and church bells rang as a tug boat slowly pulled the wreck of the liner, which was around two-and-a half times the size of the Titanic, away from the holiday island of Giglio, accompanied by a convoy of 14 vessels. Salvage workers gathered in bars at the port…

20 Jul 2014

Costa Concordia almost Ready for Final Voyage

The massive hulk of the Costa Concordia is nearly ready to be towed away from the Italian island where it struck a rock and capsized two-and-a-half years ago, killing 32 people, officials said on Sunday. The rusting prow of the once-gleaming white luxury liner was due to emerge fully from the water for the first time on Sunday, and the ship should be ready to tow on Monday, but the departure has been pushed back a day due to forecasts of rough seas. The 114,500-tonne Concordia has been slowly lifted from the sea floor since Monday, when salvagers began pumping air into 30 large metal boxes, or sponsons, attached around the hull. The air has forced water out of the sponsons…

15 Jul 2014

Engineers Attach Final Tow Chains to Costa Concordia

Salvage going to plan, hulk due to depart July 21. Engineers were securing the final chains to the Costa Concordia on Tuesday, preparing the wrecked luxury liner to be towed away from the Italian island where it sank two and half years ago, killing 32 people. The 114,500 tonne Concordia ran aground off Giglio island in January 2012 and has been stranded there ever since as engineers set up one of the biggest maritime salvage operations in history. Now the rusting hulk of the once-gleaming white ship, more than twice the size of the Titanic, is on course to leave the Tuscan coast on July 21, engineers said at a press conference. "Work has proceeded all night, still 4 chains to be connected," the wreck removal project organisers said on their official Twitter feed at around midday.

14 Jul 2014

Costa Concordia Refloated

The wreck of the luxury liner Costa Concordia was refloated on Monday and will soon be towed away and broken up for scrap, more than two years after it capsized off the Italian coast, killing 32 people. The 290-metre Costa Concordia ran aground on rocks near the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio in January 2012. The rusting hulk of the once gleaming-white ship had been resting on a temporary platform since being righted a year ago. In what has become one of the largest salvage operations in history, air was pumped into 30 large metal boxes, or sponsons, attached around the hull of the 114,500 tonne ship. The air forced out the water in the sponsons, lifting the vessel more than 2 metres off the underwater platform.

03 Jul 2014

Costa Concordia Wreck Set to Be Refloated in 10 Days

Photo courtesy of The Parbuckling Project

The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise liner is set to be refloated within 10 days, to be towed away from the Italian island where it ran aground and capsized two and a half years ago, the group organizing the removal said on Thursday. The hulk of the 290-meter ship was righted and secured in a complex operation off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio last September and, with the arrival of calm summer weather, is now due to be towed to Genoa to be broken up for scrap. The last…

14 Apr 2014

Concordia Captain Tried to Blame Wreck on Electrical Blackout

Costa Concordia (Photo courtesy of Boskalis)

The captain of the Costa Concordia tried to persuade the crisis coordinator of the cruise line to pretend an electrical blackout had caused the shipwreck, a court was told on Monday. The luxury liner hit rocks as it sailed close to the island of Giglio in January 2012, killing 32 people and setting off a chaotic evacuation of crew and passengers, some of who jumped into the sea and swam ashore. "He suggested we say an (electrical) blackout had caused the collision. I said absolutely not…

27 Feb 2014

Two Years after Concordia Wreck, Captain Returns Aboard

Schettino's first visit aboard since 2012 shipwreck; Former captain accompanying investigators as defendant as new probe into unauthorized visit by Costa officials unfolds. The captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, went back on board on Thursday for the first time since the huge cruise liner sank with the loss of 32 lives just over two years ago, accompanying experts investigating the capsize. The twisted wreck of the 290-metre-long ship, now stabilised after a complex salvage operation last year, sits propped up on underwater platforms just outside the port of Giglio, the island off the Tuscan coast where it capsized on Jan. 13, 2012.

18 Oct 2013

Interferry Urges Proactive Approach to Industry Challenges

Johan Roos, Interferry’s executive director

More than 250 top-level delegates attended trade association Interferry’s 38th annual conference in Malta to debate the major factors affecting ferry operations around the world. Under a new format mixing presentations with panel discussions and audience input, the event underlined the diversity of political, technical, operational and commercial issues challenging the industry. Among several sessions focused on safety, a former airline pilot confirmed the alarming certainty of human error…

24 Jul 2013

Costa Concordia: Lawyers Maintain Owners Criminally Liable

Photo credit Wiki CCL 2

Ronai & Ronai, LLP, a New York law firm that represents victims, including Sandor Feher, a musician who lost his life while trying to evacuate passengers, believes that the criminality of the deaths should also be placed on Costa Crociere/Carnival Corp., which was able to escape criminal liability simply because of their ability to pay a monetary fine. On July 20, 2013, five crew members of the Costa Concordia cruise ship were convicted of manslaughter for their role in the shipwreck in January 2012, which resulted in the deaths of 32 people.

22 Jul 2013

Five Convicted for Costa Concordia Shipwreck

(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)

Five employees of an Italian cruise company for the Costa Concordia shipwreck that killed 32 crew and passengers were convicted in an Italian court on Saturday after it accepted their plea bargains. The longest sentence went to the crisis coordinator for Costa Crociere SpA, the cruise company, who was sentenced to two years and 10 months. Concordia's hotel director was sentenced to two years and six months while two bridge officers and a helmsman got sentences ranging from one year and eight months to one year and 11 months.

22 Jul 2013

Costa Corncordia Trial: 5 People Jailed So Far

Four Costa Concordia crew members and a company official were sentenced to jail in Italy for their part in the 2012 cruise ship disaster that killed 32 people, leaving only the captain still on trial, reports Reuters. The five received sentences of between 18 and 34 months for multiple manslaughter, negligence and shipwreck - relatively short terms for the crimes, in exchange for pleading guilty.None of the five are likely to be jailed as the sentences of under two years were suspended and the longer ones may be replaced with house arrest or community service, say Reuters citing lawyers. The court gave the crisis coordinator for vessel owner Costa Cruises…

21 May 2013

Costa Concordia: Board Members Under Investigation

Costa Concordia: Image courtesy of The Parbuckling Project

Five board members of owners, Costa Crociere, have been placed under investigation in connection with the January 2012 cruise ship accident. The executives are reportedly being probed for possible collusion in the crimes of dereliction of duty and manslaughter that the ship's Captain, Francesco Schettino, and other crew members are being accused of. Top executives from parent company Carnival also sit on Costa Crociere's board, reports Ansa.it. The new investigation is a separate from the one involving Schettino, which led to a preliminary hearing this week.

11 Apr 2013

'Costa Concordia' Owners Fined in Italian Court

Italian cruise firm Costa Crociere has been fined €1-million (US$1.3-million) for the sinking which killed 32 people. Costa had asked for a plea bargain deal to respond to the administrative sanctions, which under Italian law are for companies whose employees commit crimes, and Judge Valeria Montesarchio accepted that plea after a hearing at the Tuscan tribunal, reports 'Herald Scotland'. Costa, a division of Miami-based Carnival, has sought to blame the disaster entirely on Captain Francesco Schettino, and prosecutors are seeking indictments for Schettino and five other people on charges including manslaughter. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday but it is not clear if the judge will make a decision then on whether to order a trial.