Remember the Costa Concordia

Thinking of taking a Mediterranean cruise, maybe running along the beautiful Italian coast, stopping in at scenic spots along the way?  Not to be a grinch, but remember the Costa Concordia?  Just over a month from today will be the one-year anniversary of the wreck of that sky-scraper sized cruise ship.  On 13 January of this year, the ship, running close to Giglio Island off the west coast of Italy, hit a rock that tore a long hole in the hull, flooding the engine room and causing the ship to run aground against the island.  At least 30 people died.  The ship is still there as an elaborate salvage operation tries to remove it.

Legambiente, the Italian environmental organization, has a short note on its web site today reminding people of the disaster.  The group calls on responsible public officials to proceed as quickly as possible with the removal and with the greatest possible transparence.  Apparently recent storms have caused the hull to shift slightly and to release toxic liquids into the surrounding waters.

The Costa Concordia was a case of a captain’s bad judgment.  But the tragedy focused attention, at least for a little while, on the enormous number of cruise ships running along the Italian coasts and on some of the issues they create.  For example in Venice.  In 2011, some 800 ships anchored in the lagoon bringing in an estimated 2 million passengers.  This was nearly double the number of ships arriving six years earlier with more than double the number of passengers.  These ships may be overwhelming an already fragile historic treasure.  Underwater turbulence from propellers appears to be damaging building foundations.  And it’s estimated that the ships collectively produce air pollution equivalent to 14,000 cars.  Environmentalists and some local officials are pushing to bar the ships from the lagoon and relocate them to an off-shore facility.