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Tuesday, 17 September 2013

FLASH BACK

The news of the cruise ship Costa Concordia hitting a rock and sinking at the beginning of a planned Mediterranean Sea cruise on the Tuscan Island of Giglio on January 12, 2012, brought shock to the world at large.


This was because the Costa Concordia, one of the world’s largest cruise liners (roughly weighing twice as the Titanic) sinking could very well result in a loss greater than that of the Titanic in the early twentieth century.


But in scenarios different from what was witnessed during the Titanic era, the engineering world has been called to quick action due to the growing concern of environmental and other sundry hazards the continued presence of the wrecked ship in the Tuscan waters could cause to the ecosystem and marine business at large.


But the Nigerian response to this great challenge posed by the increasing cases of abandoned vessels and ship wrecks is short of expectations.The huge costs for this removal/recovery projects may be prohibitive, but the harm and the dangers they would cause if unattended to will be astronomical and of inestimable value.


As engineers primarily strive to make the world a better place for all, the Costa Concordia Salvage process should serve as a wakeup call to our marine engineers in conjunction with the marine/maritime regulatory agencies like the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to take the right step and clear our waterways of all ship wrecks and abandoned vessels.


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