Editorial: Cruise lessons Tuesday, 17 January 2012 04:52

The cruise ship Costa Concordia which crashed into rocks off Italy’s Tuscan coast on Friday night, killing six people on board so far, must send a chilling warning to the public about the safety standards of this industry. The ship, carrying 4,200 passengers and crew on a Mediterranean cruise, slammed into an object described as either a rock or coral as passengers had just started their dinner.

There will be a thorough investigation into the causes of the accident both by Carnival Corp., the owner of the ship, and other agencies, either governmental and non-governmental. The guilty are likely to be punished and after a few months, the tragedy will recede from the public memory. But there are people who should not forget this tragedy: first, those who are planning their holidays in cruise ships, and second, those who are charged with ensuring the safety of those who want to travel.

Several factors are causing concern about Friday’s tragedy. The surivors have said the crew badly mishandled the emergency, delaying the start of the evacuation until an hour after the accident. There have been reports that the captain abandoned the ship (he was already ashore just after midnight, well before the last passengers were evacuated) leaving the passengers to die, which is an unpardonable crime for the captain of a ship. The passengers’ accusation that the crew were unprepared for the crisis too is a serious accusation that will erode people’s faith in the capabilities of these ships to protect lives. Compounding all these is the company admission that the captain had erred grievously on the deck. Costa Cruises’ chairman and chief executive, Pier Luigi Foschi, said the captain made an “unapproved, unauthorised manoeuvre” prior to the tragedy. “This route was put in correctly. The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a manoeuvre by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorised and unknown to Costa,’’ he said.

The shipping industry needs to take a serious look at the size of cruise ships. Since cruise shipping is a boom industry, the size of these vessels has been growing unbelievably due to greater demand and for economies of scale. It’s said the new generation of jumbo ships can carry more than 6,000 passengers and 1,800 crew members. This in itself is a recipe for disaster. Such ships will be unmanageable when a disaster occurs and a single error on the part of the captain can result in the loss of thousands of lives. Data shows that most of the shipping disasters occur due to human errors.

Governments, experts and the media must exert pressure on the industry to abandon plans which endanger human lives.