Story highlights
- The vessel will be towed to the Italian port of Genoa
- Dismantling the cruise ship could take two years
- 32 passengers and crew were killed when the ship capsized in 2012
The wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship is about to make its final voyage.
Salvage crews began the arduous task of refloating the ship last week so they can move it from its resting place off Giglio Island to the Italian port of Genoa to be dismantled.
It is set to sail Wednesday morning, according to Nick Sloane, the senior salvage master.
He said the Blue Peter flag was being flown, a maritime tradition that tells sailors they need to get ready and get to the ship.
It's been more than 2½ years since the ship ran aground off Giglio Island with more than 4,200 passengers aboard, killing 32 people in a disaster that drew global attention.
The vessel will be towed -- slowly and carefully -- approximately 240 kilometers (150 miles) to Genoa, where it will be broken up. A convoy of 17 boats will travel along with it.
See inside underwater cruise ship 02:02
Costa Concordia's painful legacy 05:12
Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disaster
Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disaster
The Costa Concordia disaster – The refloated wreck of the Costa Concordia is towed to the Italian port of Genoa on Sunday, July 27, to be scrapped, ending the ship's final journey two and a half years after it capsized at a cost of 32 lives.
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Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disaster
The Costa Concordia disaster – The Concordia is towed into the port of Genoa on July 27.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Tugboats tow the wreck of the Costa Concordia as it leaves Italy's Giglio Island on Wednesday, July 23.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – A view from a porthole shows the wreck of the Costa Concordia as it's being towed on July 23. It'll take about two years to dismantle the massive cruise liner.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – The Costa Concordia cruise ship sits in front of the harbor of Giglio Island after it was refloated using air tanks attached to its sides on Tuesday, July 22. Environmental concerns prompted the decision to undertake the expensive and difficult process of refloating the ship rather than taking it apart on site.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – The ship's name appears above the water on Monday, July 21. The ship is expected to arrive in Genoa on Sunday, August 27.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Tugboats pull the Costa Concordia after the first stage of the refloating operation on Wednesday, July 16.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – A small boat passes by the wreckage on Tuesday, July 15.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Water is expelled from the caissons hooked onto the Costa Concordia on Monday, July 14. The ship will be towed north to the port in Genoa, Italy.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Thirty-two people died when the 114,000-ton vessel, seen here on July 14, ran aground off Giglio in January 2012.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – In December 2013, crews managed to rotate the ship into an upright position.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – To float the ship, seen here on Thursday, June 26, crews attached 30 steel tanks to fill with compressed air.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Ship captain Francesco Schettino, left, returned to the Concordia in February for the first time since he ran the liner aground. He is on trial on charges of manslaughter, causing a maritime disaster and abandoning ship with passengers still on board. He denies wrongdoing.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Experts inspect the ship's damage in January. They boarded the vessel to collect new evidence, focusing on the ship's bridge and the onboard elevators.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – The wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship sits near the harbor of Giglio on Tuesday, September 17, after a salvage crew rolled the ship off its side.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – The ship had been lying on its side for 20 months off the island of Giglio. Here, members of the U.S. company Titan Salvage and the Italian marine contractor Micoperi pass by the wreckage.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Damage to the right side of the ship is apparent in September.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Using a vast system of steel cables and pulleys, maritime engineers work on Monday, September 16, to hoist the ship's massive hull off the reef where it capsized.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – The project to upright the Costa Concordia continues on September 16. The nearly $800 million effort reportedly is the largest maritime salvage operation ever.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – A water line marks the former level of the stricken Costa Concordia as the salvaging operation continues on September 16. The procedure, known as parbuckling, has never been carried out on a vessel as large as Costa Concordia before.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Members of Titan and Micoperi work at the wreck site early on September 16.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Technicians work to salvage the half-submerged ship in July 2013.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Giant hollow boxes have been attached to the side of the ship, seen here in May 2013. Attempts to refloat the ship will be aided by the compartments.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – A commemorative plaque honoring the victims of the cruise disaster is unveiled in Giglio on January 14, 2013.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Survivors, grieving relatives and locals release lanterns into the sky in Giglio after a minute of silence on January 13, 2013, marking the one-year anniversary of the shipwreck. The 32 lanterns -- one for each of the victims -- were released at 9:45 p.m. local time, the moment of impact.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – A man holds an Italian flag on his balcony overlooking the port of Giglio on January 13, 2013.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – A man works in front of the shipwreck on January 12, 2013.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – A couple walks along the port of Giglio at night on January 12, 2013.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – A man sits in his boat in front of the half-submerged cruise ship on January 8, 2013.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Cranes and floating decks surrounding the ship light up the dusk sky on January 9, 2013.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Workers stand on the edge of the ship on January 8, 2013.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – A crew passes by the hulking remains on January 7, 2013.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – People enjoy a day in the sun with a view of the cruise liner on July 1, 2012.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Military rescue workers approach the cruise liner on January 22, 2012.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Members of the Italian coast guard conduct a search-and-rescue mission on January 21, 2012.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Rescue operations to search for missing people resumed on January 20, 2012, after being suspended for a third time as conditions caused the vessel to shift on the rocks.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – The Costa Serena, the sister ship of the wrecked Costa Concordia, passes by on January 18, 2012.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – A bird flies overhead the Costa Concordia on January 18, 2012. Rescue operations were suspended as the ship slowly sank farther into the sea.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – The ship was sailing a few hundred meters off the rocky Tuscan coastline.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – An Italian coast guard helicopter flies over Giglio's harbor on January 16, 2012.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Rescuers search the waters near the stricken ship on January 16, 2012.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – The Concordia, pictured on January 15, 2012, was on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome when it hit rocks off the coast of Giglio.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – The ship starts keeling over early on January 14, 2012. Evacuation efforts started promptly but were made "extremely difficult" by the position of the listing ship, officials said.
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The Costa Concordia disaster – Rescued passengers arrive at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy, on January 14, 2012. The Costa Concordia was carrying 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members.
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The ship is expected to arrive in Genoa on Sunday, Sloane said. It'll take about two years to dismantle the massive cruise liner.
Environmental concerns prompted the decision to undertake the expensive and difficult process of refloating the Costa Concordia rather than taking it apart on site.
Since the wreck two years ago, 24 metric tons of debris -- including furniture, dishes, food, personal effects and ship parts -- have been recovered from the seabed.
The Costa Concordia is the largest salvage ever attempted -- and the most expensive, at a cost of $1.5 billion so far.
