Costa Concordia salvage delayed

The salvage consortium tasked with refloating the half-submerged Costa Concordia cruise liner said on Saturday that the expected date to remove the wreck had been delayed until September 2013.

Representatives of U.S. firm Titan Salvage and Italian company Micoperi, who were chosen to handle the removal, told journalists they were still confident the plans would succeed despite never being tested on a ship this size.

They added that the project has posed unprecedented challenges, requiring creative solutions.

(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PROJECT DIRECTOR AT MICOPERI, SERGIO GIROTTO, SAYING:

"We are using 30,000 tonnes of steel in our constructions. To give you an idea, the weight of the Eiffel Tower is 7,000 tonnes. 30,000 tonnes therefore means four Eiffel Towers."

Once the ship is refloated it will be towed to an Italian port where it will be broken down and taken apart.

Sunday marks the one year anniversary of the enormous ship's partial sinking.

It ran aground on January 13, 2012 off the coast of the Italian island of Giglio, killing at least 32 people.