Mega-cruise ships raise safety fears

Citation

(1999), "Mega-cruise ships raise safety fears", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308eab.006

Mega-cruise ships raise safety fears

Mega-cruise ships raise safety fears

Cruise shipping is safe. There are something like 250 cruise ships operating around the world - two-thirds of them in North America - and the number of serious accidents each year would be more than covered by the fingers of one hand.

The reality is that to continue to thrive cruise companies have to give the safety and comfort of their passengers the utmost priority. To do anything else would be commercial suicide. But having said all that, two recent incidents - the fire on the Carnival ship Ecstasy and the grounding of the Monarch of the Seas - prove that safety must be a matter of constant vigilance. Happily in both cases there were no casualties and the emergency services were not put to the test.

But there has been growing unease at the International Maritime Organisation and other places that the sheer size of the new cruise ships coming into service have all the potential for significant disaster. The latest ships being built will have on board between 4,000 and 5,000 people when the crew is included. The concern is not so much their evacuation from the ship, rather what happens next, especially in the remoter parts of the world.

In the Caribbean, there are at any one time literally scores of other cruise ships within distance to effect a speedy and efficient rescue. But having 5,000 people at the mercy of the elements in places like South America, the Pacific and even the Atlantic is an entirely different proposition for the rescue services.

Anyone who has ever travelled on a cruise ship will know that the cruise companies play their part. The mandatory lifeboat drills which precede each trip are both realistic and comprehensive. But the effectiveness of the operators can only stretch as far as getting passengers into the boats. Thereafter it is the rescue services which have to transport them to safety.

Sophistication

New cruise ships are built to a high level of technical sophistication. And even including older vessels the general standard is far higher than in the cargo fleet. The days of the cruising rust bucket have long gone; the international regulations have seen to that.

Not the least factor in the safety equation is the fact that the media always have a weather eye open for anything which smacks of disaster - whether it be in the air or at sea. The attendant publicity could spell disaster for any company not giving the highest priority to safety.

It is also the case that cruise itineraries are to some extent discretionary and can be altered if it is in the interests of passenger safety and comfort. No such licence is given the cargo ship which has to meet its schedules come hell or high water.

Unease

But the unease in shipping circles about the marketing-driven increased size of cruise ships is not misplaced. Fire is the greatest enemy and in a cruise ship there are a number of extensive operations which can give rise to it, notably catering.

Little can be done to stop cruise companies increasing the size of their vessels and the density and effectiveness of rescue services around the world will inevitably be patchy. But has the time come for some sort of tacit agreement with cruise companies wanting to operate in remoter areas of the world that they will stay within range of the rescue services?

(Lloyd's Casualty Week, Vol. 314 No. 13, 25 December 1998).