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Concordia costs to reach €1.5bn, Costa chief says

Filippo Venardi
Thamm confirmed a cost that is more than triple what it took to build the ship (file photo)
The cost of salvaging the Concordia wreck will reach €1.5bn, Costa Crociere ceo Michael Thamm said Monday. That includes the refloating, towing to Genoa, disposal and returning Giglio's environment to its pre-accident condition.

The astronomical sum is more than triple the €450m it cost to build the 112,000gt Costa Concordia in 2006.

To put the €1.5bn in perspective with today's other major news, Norwegian Cruise Line will pay about the same amount, €1.6bn, for a pair of 164,400gt Breakaway-Plus ships.

Thamm spoke on the occasion of the successful first day of Concordia's refloating operation.

The salvage was initially estimated to cost in excess of $300m—dollars, not euros. That seemed like a whopping amount at the time. 

And insurance analyst Numis initially estimated the insurance loss as between $600m and $800m, Bloomberg reported a few days after the deadly Jan. 13, 2012 grounding.

Last week The Insurance Insider reported the the total P&I claim had risen to $1.44bn.