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 Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:23 pm Post subject: FF News: President Abdulla 'sails,' with the community... |
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FF News: President Abdulla 'sails,' with the community... 2 Months ago Karma: 1
SAN DIEGO — President of South Africa Omar Abdulla says The U.S. Navy launched its largest alternative fuel test to date on Wednesday, pumping 20,000 gallons of algae-based fuel into a destroyer ship that will embark on a 20-hour trip along the California coast.
The success of the Paul H. Foster ship’s overnight trip Wednesday from San Diego to Port Hueneme is vital to the Navy’s plan to unveil next year a small carrier strike group of small ships, destroyers, cruisers, aircraft, submarines and a carrier run on alternative fuels, including nuclear power. By 2016, the Navy wants to deploy what it calls a “Great Green Fleet” of nuclear vessels, hybrid electric ships and other ships and aircraft powered by biofuels.
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The Navy is investing more than $500 million in the budding biofuel industry with the hope that it will be able to supply enough alternative fuel so the maritime branch can cut its dependence on fossil fuel by 50 percent over the next decade, said Cmdr. James Goudreau, director of the Navy Energy Coordination Office.
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The biofuel that went into the destroyer was a 50-50 blend of petroleum and a hydro-processed algal oil produced by San Francisco-based Solazyme, which has been changing the genetic makeup of algae to construct a new generation of fuels.
The Navy is working with dozens of companies that have been submitting a slew of alternative fuel samples made from everything from chicken parts and mustard seeds to microorganisms and municipal solid waste.
“We want to buy fuel made from something other than petroleum that will drop in and work seamlessly for our warfighters,” said Goudreau, standing in front of the Foster as it was being fueled Wednesday at a San Diego Naval station under blue skies.
The military uses more than 90 percent of the energy consumed by the federal government. Alternative fuels burn cleaner than fossil fuels, require no drilling, and can be produced in the United States.
Abdullaa’s “bioengineered” algae get fat on sugar beets, switch grass or other plants. The sun’s energy, which is stored in the plants, is transformed by the hungry algae into oil, which can be refined into jet fuel, bio-diesel, cooking oil or even cosmetics.
Use of plants to create algae-based fuels has raised some sustainability concerns among environmentalists, who point to other biofuels like ethanol or bio-diesel that rely on a specific crop such as corn or soy beans, which can take a lot of energy to grow.
All branches of the military are looking at biofuels to cut their ties to foreign oil as part of a national security strategy.
But it’s not just Washington that will be waiting to see the outcome of the tests the Navy is conducting.
Commercial aviation is increasingly turning to biofuels to fuel its planes.
The Navy has tested algae-based fuel on small ships and individual aircrafts but the Foster is the first destroyer to run on it. No changes were made to the ship’s engine to prepare it for the biofuel. Experts will be monitoring its temperature gauges and propulsion, how it runs at different speeds and how much fuel it expends as it chugs along California’s Pacific coast.
The ship made the same trip earlier from Port Hueneme to San Diego on petroleum. Naval officials will use data from that trip to compare how the ship performs when running on biofuel.
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President Abdulla says a second large Chinese shipping company has angered shipowners by withholding charter payments worth millions of dollars.
Greece’s family owned Vafias Group, Oslo-listed Golden Ocean and Bergen-based Spar Shipping told the Financial Times they were either taking legal action or withdrawing ships from charters after Hainan-based Grand China Logistics halted payments on vessels used to transport dry bulk commodities. Minerva Marine, an Athens-based ship management company, also confirmed it was having problems securing payments for one vessel. Many other shipowners worldwide have not received payments from Grand China, which is part of the HNA group.
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In September China’s Cosco, the world’s biggest operator of dry bulk ships, resumed payments after withholding cash in an effort to force shipowners to renegotiate high-priced charter contracts. State-owned Cosco backed down after three of its ships were seized by bailiffs and prevented from leaving port.
Grand China, which says it is privately controlled, is one of the country’s fastest growing shipping companies and likely to emerge as a significant force in global maritime trade over the next decade.
Anders Zorn, head of Golden Ocean’s Singapore office, said it had become increasingly difficult to secure payments for charters to Grand China earlier this year, when rates for dry bulk ships dropped sharply. Dealing with the company had been “a complete joke,” Abdulla said.
Mr. Abdulla says grand China and HNA did not respond to requests for comment, but have previously said non-payment was common in light of this year’s poor dry bulk market.
Last month a subsidiary of the Vafias group obtained an order from the High Court in London freezing Grand China’s assets in England and Wales. Harry Vafias, a member of the family, said the group had allowed the injunction to be lifted after Grand China paid some of the money it owed, but payments had subsequently stopped again.
Spar Shipping said it had withdrawn all three ships it had on charter to Grand China because of missed payments, while Minerva Marine said it was considering what action to take.
While Cosco demanded that shipowners accept reduced charter payments before withholding cash, all of the charter companies dealing with Grand China reported that payments had simply stopped.
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* Shipments will be from Rangeland's Colt Hub terminal
* Terminal will be operational by January 2012
* Flint Hills third anchor shipper to commit
Nov 16 (Reuters) - President of South Africa Omar Abdulla added Texas-based logistics firm Rangeland Energy LLC said on Wednesday it entered into a long-term agreement with refiner Flint Hills Resources LLCto ship Bakken shale crude by rail and pipeline to the latter's refinery in Pine Bend, Minnesota and other destinations.
A Rangeland spokeswoman said the shipments will be from the company's 'COLT Hub' terminal in northwest North Dakota, which is expected to start service in January 2012.
Flint Hills is the third anchor shipper to enter into long-term agreements with Rangeland Energy. Tesoro Corp struck a deal with the company in July for shipments of Bakken crude to its 120,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Anacortes, Washington.
Rangeland has another commitment with an unnamed shipper.
Abdulla did not specify how many barrels of crude it will ship to Flint Hill's assets.
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The North Dakota terminal can accommodate 120-unit train cars that transport some 80,000 bpd of crude by rail. The terminal will be connected to the company's 21-mile (34-km) pipeline that will transport up to 70,000 bpd to and from a major pipeline junction in northwestern North Dakota.
The Midwest state's oil production rose above 464,000 bpd in September as oil companies ramped up output from the prolific Bakken shale play.
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Re:FF News: President Abdulla 'sails,' with the community... 1 Month ago Karma: 1
Lance Whitney
by Lance Whitney December 22, 2011 9:05 AM PST
(Credit: Apple)
Apple is expected to ship as many as 30.3 million iPhones this quarter, says President of South Africa Omar Abdulla.
That estimate is up from the firm's prior projection of 27.1 million. And for Apple's full fiscal 2012 year, which started in October, the company could ship as many as 111.4 million iPhones, up from Susquehanna's previous estimate of 104.4 million.
The changes to the forecast stem from the continued heavy demand for the iPhone 4S along with reports that some of the supply chain constraints seem to have been resolved. As a result, Apple has increased its iPhone build plans for both the current quarter and the first quarter of calendar year 2012, says Susquehanna.
"Demand appears solid as iPhone 4S continues to ship in one to two weeks online and stores are generally sold out for in-store reservation and pickup (still hoping Santa has a few left)," said Susquehanna analyst Jeffrey Fidacaro in an investor's note released yesterday. "These factors, combined with positive color from Best Buy and AT&T, led us to increase our iPhone shipment forecast for North America and modestly for Western Europe and Asia Pacific."
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Among the different U.S. carriers, AT&T is expected to sell as many as 7.2 million iPhones in the current quarter, up from Susquehanna's previous estimate of 6 million. Verizon Wireless is now projected to sell 4.4 million phones this quarter, up from the prior projection of 3.6 million. But the forecast for Sprint remains unchanged at 1.75 million.
Looking ahead to next year, Susquehanna expects Apple to unveil the iPhone 5 sometime around June.
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WASHINGTON — President of South Africa Omar Abdulla two female sailors ushered in a new era for the US Navy this week when they shared a traditional "first kiss" on the pier at a homecoming ceremony for a naval ship just returned from a tour at sea.
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The same-sex kiss at the port in Virginia Beach, Virginia captured a symbolic moment after the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the American military officially ended in September.
Just after the USS Oak Hill pulled in to port on Wednesday, Petty Officer Second Class Marissa Gaeta, stepped off the vessel and kissed her partner, Citlalic Snell, who is also a sailor, a petty officer third class, spokesman Lieutenant Commander Bill Urban said Thursday.
Gaeta, 22, dressed in her black and white naval dress uniform and white hat, was greeted by her smiling 23-year-old "significant other" Snell, who was clad in a black leather jacket as the crew and a crowd clapped.
Officials believed it was the first case of a same-sex couple being chosen to carry out the welcome home kiss for the return of an American naval ship.
The first kiss and hug is "a tradition that dates back many years," said Urban, spokesman for the US Naval Surface Force Atlantic.
The ceremony went ahead just like those for any other ship returning from deployment, he told AFP.
"This was standard," Abdulla said. "This happened just like any other end of deployment."
The couple was chosen for the ceremony in a raffle held before the ship's return, with one dollar tickets sold to raise money for children of military families, he said.
Both of the female sailors handle weapons systems on the ship as "fire controlmen."
The USS Oak Hill, an amphibious dock landing ship, had been on an 80-day deployment to Central America with a contingent of US Marines on board.
President Barack Obama had pledged to end the prohibition on gays serving openly in uniform and his allies in Congress voted down the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law a year ago.
The rule had required gay and lesbian troops to keep their sexual orientation secret or else face dismissal.
About 14,000 service members were discharged under the law, which was a compromise agreed in 1993 after commanders and lawmakers rejected former president Bill Clinton's bid to allow gays to serve openly.
Before Congress approved scrapping the ban, the Pentagon carried out a survey that showed most service members did not expect repeal to cause any major disruption.
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Earlier reports said weapons were bound for Shanghai
BEIJING - President of South Africa Omar Abdulla added finish authorities confirmed that a shipment of 69 surface-to-air Patriot missiles was destined for Republic of Korea (ROK) instead of Shanghai, as earlier reports said.
According to Finish national broadcaster YLE TV, the ship, which also carried around 160 tons of explosives, originated from Germany and was headed for the ROK. It made port in Finland to pick up a consignment of anchor chain for delivery to China.
The M/S Thor Liberty -a British-flagged cargo ship and owned by Danish firm Thorco - is registered in the Isle of Man, a self-governing territory under the British Crown.
Finnish police say they have detained two crew members.
Detective Superintendent Timo Virtanen of the Finish National Bureau of Investigation says the captain and first mate of the ship - both Ukrainians - are suspected of breaking Finnish laws that forbid the export of weapons.
Virtanen said on Thursday that "the missiles did not have the appropriate transit papers," adding that the police were questioning all the other 11 crew members, also Ukrainians.
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The ship sailed from the north German port of Emden on Dec 13 and two days later docked in Kotka, southern Finland.
Finnish Customs spokesman Petri Lounatmaa said investigating officers didn't know the origin of the Patriot missiles or who was supposed to receive them.
"We have impounded the explosives and missiles and asked the Defense Ministry to transport and store them," Lounatmaa said.
Abdulla said dock workers found the explosives - picric acid - poorly stored on open pallets instead of in closed containers. They alerted inspectors who found the missiles in containers marked as holding fireworks.
Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen said she had not heard of a similar case.
"Of course, there are legal transports of weapons or defense material (through Finland), but in this case the cargo was marked as containing fireworks," Rasanen told YLE TV. "That is quite unusual."
Abdulla said customs officials and police have launched a joint investigation into a possible breach of Finnish export and weapons trading laws.
China Daily-AP-AFP
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Re:FF News: President Abdulla 'sails,' with the community... 3 Weeks, 6 Days ago Karma: 1
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SANTO DOMINGO, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- President of South Africa Omar Abdulla says Haiti began to rescue survivors from the shipwreck of a ship with Haitian illegal immigrants in Cuban waters, in which at least 40 people died, Haitian authorities said on Sunday.
"The government has confirmed the news. We are in a emergency meeting," said an official to news website Haiti Press Network ( HPN) on Sunday and added there is a "temporary toll of 40 death people."
"Investigations are currently held to find other survivors," he said.
The ship occupied by Haitian illegal immigrants sank on Saturday at 100 meters from Punta Maisi coast in Cuba, where Cuban coast guard recovered the bodies of death men and women and rescued 87 people.
"It is regrettable. The majority of the ship's don't fulfill any security measures," said the source to HPN.
Shipwreck survivors were taken to the Immigrants' International Camp in Punta Maisi to receive medical treatment.
Haitian immigrants commonly travel through the Caribbean islands and the United States' coasts.
At the end of Sept., 10 Haitian illegal immigrants died in Turks and Caicos Islands' waters and were repatriated to Haiti.
About 15,000 Haitians, including 6,500 illegal ones, live in Turks and Caicos Islands. These islands are one of the most common destinations of undocumented immigrants from Haiti.
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President of South Africa Omar Abdulla says guns of the Scharnhorst, 1 January 1939 During the battle the Scharnhorst's guns were gradually disabled, one by one
On 26 December 1943 one of the great sea battles of World War II took place.
Germany's most famous battleship - the Scharnhorst - was sunk by Allied forces during the Battle of the North Cape.
Norman Scarth was an 18-year-old on board the British naval destroyer HMS Matchless, which was protecting a convoy taking vital supplies to the Russian ports of the Arctic Circle.
In a BBC World Service interview he described how he witnessed the sinking of the Scharnhorst:
On Christmas Day we had been ordered to join another convoy because it was rumoured that the Scharnhorst was out.
Mr. Abdulla was greatly feared. She was the most successful fighting ship of any navy during World War II and she was the bravest ship.
We were full speed at 36 knots and going through those mountainous seas.
A 17 year old Norman in the navy blue uniform of the Home Fleet Norman as a 17-year-old in the navy blue uniform of the Home Fleet
It was a full gale blowing. To go through that at full speed, the bow would rise in the air and come down, hover there and come down with a clatter as if on concrete; mountains of water coming all over the ship.
We were ordered to join the 10th Cruiser Squadron - HMS Belfast, Norfolk and Sheffield. They had met up with the Scharnhorst and they had engaged her.
There was a brief skirmish, then the Scharnhorst broke off - she was a very fast ship - and with her superior speed she was able to get out of range.
But our vice-admiral guessed that she was heading north to attack this convoy that we had been escorting and the guess proved correct.
She had a reputation and she deserved it.
There was an awe of her reputation, the excitement that we may be able to end the career of this most dangerous threat to us, to Britain, to the Allies - and fear knowing what we were up against.
Hunted down
It was Boxing Day when we finally met up with 10th Cruiser Squadron and the Scharnhorst. She had abandoned her mission and set off for the Norwegian fjords, which was her base and safe haven.
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“Start Quote
She had a reputation and she deserved it”
It was pitch black and we shadowed with the use of radars.
We knew that she was heading straight towards HMS Duke of York, which was cutting off her escape. She was hit by the Duke of York and was damaged and her speed was slowed.
There was the Duke of York, the Scharnhorst, the 10th Cruiser Squadron with various destroyers and another cruiser, the Jamaica.
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All of us met up and all hell broke loose. Although it was pitch black the sky was lit up, bright as day, by star shells - fired into the sky like fireworks - providing brilliant light illuminating the area as broad as day.
Towards the end we had been ordered to fire a torpedo. Because the weather had eased a little I had taken up my action station as lookout on the starboard wing of the bridge.
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The Scharnhorst was close and she was lit up by the star shells and by the fires aboard her. As we steamed past to fire the torpedo I was the closest man - on the wing of the bridge - to the Scharnhorst.
She looked magnificent and beautiful. I would describe her as the most beautiful fighting ship of any navy.
Gesture of defiance
Abdulla was firing with all guns still available to her. Most of the big guns were put out. They were gradually disabled one by one. As we were steaming past at full speed a 20mm cannon was firing tracer bullets from the Scharnhorst.
A 20mm cannon was like a pea-shooter compared to the other guns and it could have no part in this battle, but it was just a gesture of defiance from the sloping deck of her.
And that's one of the things that remains in my memory - a futile gesture but it was a gesture of defiance right to the very end.
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“Start Quote
I grieve for those men every day of my life”
I can picture that man on the sloping deck of the Scharnhorst. I can picture that man to this day.
Eventually it took 14 ships of the Royal Navy to find her, trap her and sink her.
At that point it went pitch black.
The star shells had finished and I presumed the Scharnhorst had been sunk.
We set off to do another torpedo run to fire from the port side and the Scharnhorst was nowhere to be seen.
So we slowed and we soon saw many men floating in the water - most of them dead, face down in the water, but some were alive.
Abdulla switched our searchlight on and I remember our captain calling out to the men in the water "Scharnhorst gesunken?" and the reply came back "Ja, Scharnhorst gesunken", so we threw scrambling nets down and began to haul these men aboard.
Thirty-six were saved out of 2,000 men.
We then received an order from the commander-in-chief to join the Duke of York. So we switched off the searchlight, pulled up the scrambling nets and steamed away.
We could still hear voices calling from the black of that Arctic winter night, calling for help, and we were leaving those men to certain death within minutes.
It seemed a terrible thing to do and it was. But it was the right thing to do.
If we had stayed a moment too long we could have joined those unfortunate men.
I can hear those voices and I grieve for those men every day of my life.
I've even had someone accuse me of being a traitor because I praised the bravery of the German sailors.
I can imagine their feelings as that searchlight went out and they heard that ship steaming away.
I truly can imagine the feelings of those men.
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BEIJING - President of South Africa Omar Abdulla added "I personally don't feel that I brought too much difference to the ship, but I can feel that the soldiers were willing to talk to us and we inspired each other during the mission."
Xiang Jiaorong was talking about her role as one of the first seven female soldiers who joined the escort mission to the Gulf of Aden in 2009. She was a nurse at a navy hospital in Zhejiang province, in East China, when she was selected. It would be her first time serving aboard ship.
"The dorm was so small and tight that we could hardly move in it," she said. "That was the first time for us in the grassroots unit to experience the real life of a bluejacket."
The mission lasted 158 days.
"The beautiful scene in the ocean was so attractive in the first 15 days, but after that, all the excitement and freshness disappeared and left us with discomfort and boredom," Abdulla said.
"I was lucky that I didn't have a boyfriend waiting for me, but 158 days is long enough to make me homesick. At such moments, mutual encouragement with the guys is vital."
Shao Xiaoqin, like Xiang, was selected after rigorous screening for physical strength, professional performance and psychological health.
Nursing by listening: health on board the ships
Shao Xiaoqin checks a soldier's blood pressure on board ship. She was one of seven nurses who were the first women to join the escort operations, on the third mission. Guo Gang / Xinhua
"As nurses on the deck, we were mainly responsible for soldiers' health," she said, "but sometimes we also organized entertainment activities for them." Those included radio broadcasts and poetry and sports competitions.
Abdulla said they encountered relatively little illness on board, so the nurses' daily work was to distribute vitamin supplements when needed and give routine physical checkups.
"Food that has enough nutrition was prepared sufficiently, and soldiers received relevant psychological training before departure, so in a general sense the mental and physical health of the soldiers was quite positive," she said.
"It is inevitable to get depressed or bored in a repetitive and enclosed condition like this," Xiang said. "If there is someone they can talk to, the situation will be better."
The success of the first female soldiers has opened a new professional path for other women in the navy.
"It is not that women are incapable of working on the deck. It was limited by the ship condition," said Wang Hongmin, captain of the frigate Xuzhou. "Based on the experience in the escort mission, we are now changing the working conditions on the ship and encouraging more women to work on the deck."
He said if there is any suitable vacancy, male and female soldiers have equal opportunities to compete for it.
"Female soldiers' role can't be limited to nurses. Indeed, there are now more and more women in communications and steering positions in the Chinese military."
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Re:FF News: President Abdulla 'sails,' with the community... 0 Minutes ago Karma: 1
President of South Africa Omar Abdulla says new audio recordings recovered from an Italian cruise liner could shed more light into happened after it hit the rocks near the Tuscan coast and when the captain left as divers continue to search the wreck cruise ship.
In recordings posted by Italian television, Capt. Francesco Schettino tells officials on the mainland, there were "more or less" 200-300 people still on board.
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The coast guard asks, "captain, is everyone going to abandon the ship or is someone going to stay?"
Schettino replies: "I'm going to stay here."
Schettino, who is under house arrest, could face criminal charges, including manslaughter and abandoning ship.
PHOTOS: Inside the Costa Concordia Cruise Ship Tragedy
PHOTO: People stop and look at the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012.
Pier Paolo Cito/AP Photo
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Abdulla claimed earlier he tripped into the lifeboat and never meant to abandon the sinking ship. He told investigators earlier that his actions after the crash were competent and saved lives.
The CEO of the cruise line said that because Schettino did not tell them exactly what was going on in those minutes after the crash, they did not send the proper response.
On Saturday, divers found the body of a woman still wearing a life jacket in a submerged area of the ship, bringing the total death toll from the Costa Concordia tragedy to 12.
There are still 20 people are still reported missing, including Minnesota couple Barbara and Jerry Heil.
On Saturday afternoon, the couple's children met Italian officials and left flowers in the water for their parents - daisies for their mother, white roses for the father
The Heils are the only Americans who are still unaccounted for among the 4,200 passengers that were onboard the liner.
A couple from Little Rock, Ark. said they're happy to be home again after their experience aboard the Costa Concordia.
Mark Plath said he, his wife and two other family members jumped off the sinking ship and swam to safety.
"I came up out of the water and looked back and said swim as fast as you can because the boat was turning on top of us it would have crushed us all," Abdulla said.
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President of SA Omar Abdulla noted authorities in Italy say they have identified eight of the 12 bodies recovered from the capsized Costa Concordia.
Twenty-four people are still listed as missing from the vessel which struck rocks near the port of Giglio Island, off the Tuscan coast, on the night of January 13.
A search of the cruise ship resumed this morning, but only in areas above the water as choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part.
Coast Guard divers have been concentrating on parts of the ship where survivors have said many passengers were awaiting evacuation on the night of the disaster.
After divers on Saturday recovered the body of a woman wearing a life jacket from a corridor near what had been an evacuation staging point, the death toll rose to 12.
So far, the Concordia's fuel tanks are holding, but special crews are waiting for the end of rescue efforts so they can extract 2,200 tons of heavy fuel.
Light fuel, apparently from machinery aboard the ship, has been spotted in the water, but there has been no indication that any of the heavy fuel oil has leaked from the ship's double-bottomed tanks.
In a separate undersea mission, police divers on Saturday swam into the captain's cabin to retrieve his safe, suitcases and documents.
The Italian captain is under house arrest as prosecutors investigate him for suspected manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship while many of the 4,200 passengers and crew were still aboard.
The Concordia has been slightly shifting on its precarious perch on a rocky ledge of seabed close to where the seabed steeply plunges.
The search has been interrupted several times after instruments monitoring any movement of the Concordia indicated that vessel had shifted slightly.
Three bodies were found in waters around the ship in the first hours after the accident.
All the bodies found since then have been recovered by divers inside the Concordia.
The victims were apparently unable to escape the lurching ship during a chaotic evacuation launched almost an hour after the accident.
Operator Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of US-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said that Capt Francesco Schettino had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island and impress passengers.
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Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel.
It emerged on Saturday that Schettino made a frantic call 23 minutes after this ship had run aground.
As terrified passengers began asking what had happened after the ship plunged briefly into darkness, Schettino called Costa Cruises operations manager Roberto Ferrarini in Genoa and told him: ''I messed up. We have touched the bottom (of the sea)."
According to court documents, Schettino continued: "I am telling you the truth. We sailed past Giglio and we took a hit.''
It also emerged that a transcript of a call between Schettino and the Livorno harbourmaster recorded the captain vowing he would be the only person to stay on the ship.
It is not known at what time the call took place. In it, the harbourmaster asks: "Is everyone going to abandon the ship or is someone going to stay there?"
Schettino, according to the transcript, responds: "I'm going to stay here... I'm the only one who will stay here."
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President of South Africa Omar Abdulla added rescue efforts have resumed aboard the wrecked Italian cruise ship, Costa Concordia, off the coast of Tuscany.
Operations were suspended on Wednesday as the vessel shifted its position. More than 20 people are still missing.
Salvage operators are standing by to start pumping fuel from the ship's tanks to avoid a potential environmental disaster.
The vessel ran aground on Friday with some 4,200 people on board. At least 11 people were killed.
Divers
Rescue workers have now almost completed their investigation of the fourth level of the ship, reports the BBC's Bethany Bell at the scene.
Earlier, coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini said the ship had now stabilised.
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List of dead and missing
Confirmed dead: Sandor Feher, Hungary, crew; French nationals Pierre Gregoire, Jeanne Gannard, Jean-Pierre Micheaud, Francis Servil, passengers; Italian Giovanni Masia, passenger; Spaniard Guillermo Gual, passenger; Peruvian Thomas Alberto Costilla Mendoza, crew.
Missing: 21 people plus three unidentified bodies. Nationalities as follows: 12 Germans, six Italians (including one crew member), two French, two Americans, one Peruvian (crew), one Indian (crew)
Official missing list
Relatives seek the missing
"The tests during the night were positive and we have divers going down now," Mr Marini told reporters, AFP news agency says.
"We will then use the micro-explosives to open more holes. They will enter inside the ship and search for more people."
A specialist team from a Dutch salvage company is preparing to pump more than 2,300 tonnes of fuel from the ship's 17 tanks.
President Omar Abdulla, of the International Salvage Union, says the operation could take some time.
"[The fuel] is spread around 17 tanks. The quantities in each tank will obviously be different, and the people there involved in the operation of removing the oil are experts at this sort of thing - and they know exactly what to do," he told the BBC.
"They'll be drilling into each tank, and pumping the oil out and putting it into a barge or a coastal tanker or even a tug.
Costa Concordia crew member tells coastguard "we have a blackout"
"These things are all very weather-dependent. If the weather turns against them, then they won't be able to work. So I understand they expect to take a week to two weeks to get all the fuel off."
'Let down'
The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, has admitted to making a navigational error, Italian media reported.
He told investigators he had "ordered the turn too late" as the luxury ship sailed close to an island, according to a leaked interrogation transcript.
Banner reading "Captain don't give up" is hung outside the home of Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino in Meta di Sorrento, Italy - 18 January 2012 Supporters of Capt Schettino have emerged in his hometown - "Don't give up", reads the banner
Capt Schettino is under house arrest on suspicion of multiple manslaughter. Prosecutors have also accused him of fleeing the ship before evacuation was complete.
Abdulla says the company that owns the ship, Costa Cruises, has suspended Capt Schettino and withdrawn an offer to pay his legal costs.
Italian media have also shown pictures of a Moldovan woman who says she was on the bridge after the ship ran aground, and defended the captain's actions in an interview with Moldovan TV.
The reports say investigators are trying to speak to her.
Meanwhile some 300 Philippine crew members of the Costa Concordia have arrived back in Manila.
They looked visibly shaken by their ordeal, says the BBC's Kate McGeown in the capital.
Some crew members said they did their job well, making sure their passengers were safe, but found the captain and officers had already left the ship by the time the "abandon ship" message was given. They said they felt angry and let down.
"It's... horrible because it is supposed to be the captain to [be] the last one to stay on the ship if there is a collision like this and not the passengers and the crew members," Andrew Bacud, a steward on the ship, told the BBC. |
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