Tag: Costa Concordia

Costa Concordia has raised questions about the safety The grounding and capsizing of the Costa Concordia has raised questions about the safety of the ever-increasing size of cruise ships. But experts say that these new megaships have the latest safety and navigation technology and pose little risk to passengers despite their gargantuan bulk.The Concordia - a ship more than two-and-a-half football fields long - was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew Friday night when it hit a reef off the Italian coast, flooded with water and listed to one side. At least six people died in the accident with another 16 unaccounted for, including two American passengers.The investigation of the crash is focusing on the ship's captain, not its design.Pier Luigi Foschi, CEO of Costa Crociere SpA, distanced his cruise line on Monday from the jailed captain, Francesco Schettino, saying that the captain "took an initiative of his own will which is contrary to our written rules of conduct."Industry watchers also placed the blame on human error.The accident has more to do with training, oversight and adherence to policies than the design or size of the ship, said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of Cruise Critic."This was just sloppy," she ...

Captain of the Costa Concordia steered the ship too close to the Tuscan island of Giglio The owners of the doomed Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia were not aware of unsafe practices involving ships coming close to shore to give tourists a better view, Costa Cruises chief executive Pier Luigi Foschi told a newspaper on Friday.Investigators say the captain of the Costa Concordia steered the ship too close to the Tuscan island of Giglio, where the 114,500 tonne vessel ran aground and capsized last week, apparently while performing a manoeuvre known as a "salute" which took it within 150 metres of the shore.Foschi told the Corriere della Sera that ships sometimes passed near to shore during what he termed "tourist navigation" but he said this was always performed safely and he denied that the company knew the Concordia would be going so close.He said the Concordia's onboard newspaper had announced that the ship would pass five miles from Giglio."I can't rule out that individual captains, without informing us, may have set a course closer to land. However I can rule out ever having known that they may have done it unsafely," he said.Doubts have already been expressed about whether Costa ...

Costa Concordia shifted again on its rocky perch The cruise ship grounded off Tuscany has shifted again on its rocky perch, forcing the suspension of diving search operations for the 21 people still missing and raising concerns about the stability of the ship's resting place.It was not clear if the slight movements registered on Friday by sensors placed on board the Costa Concordia were just vibrations as the ship settles on the rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio or if the massive ocean liner is slowly slipping off the reef.The sensors detected that the ship's bow was moving about 15mm an hour and the stern about 7mm an hour, said Nicola Casagli of the University of Florence, who has been called in by Italian authorities to monitor the ship's stability. The Concordia's movements are being watched since any significant shift could be dangerous for divers trying to locate those still missing after the Concordia ran aground on January 13. An additional fear is that movement could damage tanks holding a half-million gallons of fuel oil and lead to leaks.The sea floor drops off sharply a few meters from where the ship is resting, and Italy's environment minister has warned ...

s Comprehensive Audit and Review of Safety and Emergency Response Across All Its Cruise Lines Following the tragic Costa Concordia accident, Carnival Corporation & plc, parent company of Costa Cruises and nine othercruise lines around the world,announced a comprehensive audit and review of all safety and emergency response procedures across all of the company's cruise lines.Carnival Corporation & plc and the cruise industry as a whole have maintained an excellent safety record over the years. "However, this tragedy has called into question our company's safety and emergency response procedures and practices," said Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc. "While I have every confidence in the safety of our vessels and the professionalism of our crews, this review will evaluate all practices and procedures to make sure that this kind of accident doesn't happen again."The review is being led by Captain James Hunn, a retired U.S. Navy Captain and currently the company's senior vice president of Maritime Policy & Compliance. Following a 32-year career in the Navy, Hunn has held senior positions at Carnival Corporation & plc for nearly a decade, focusing on corporate-wide efforts to establish maritime policy standards, while overseeing the company's health, environmental, safety, ...

His resignation is likely to be the first of many from high-level people connected to the incident President of RINA, the Italian classification society that certified the Costa Concordia for seaworthiness and safety, Gianni Scerni resigned Tuesday amid controversy over comments he allegedly made to the Italian media. Mr. Scerni disputes the accuracy of the comments but he has decided to resign in order to distance RINA from any association with the alleged remarks.The comments in question were made in an article posted toIl Secolo XIX, an Italian paper, titled "Scerni: Ma l'armatore non poteva non sapere", or "But the owner could not know", translated.In the article Scerni attacks the owners of the Costa Concordia, who have publicly placed blame solely on Captain Francesco Schettino, for failing to know about the practice of "bow'ing", or "showboating", that we have seen invideo andAIS plotting from previous voyages of the cruise ship.Scerni tells the paper (translated from Italian to English): "It is madness such a thing could happen with calm seas and the starry skies. Going so close to the coast is a sailor bravado, but it can not be done by those who lead a ship of that size."Scerni is then ...

Costa Concordia unveils gaps in international safety rules and standards The cruise ship disaster off Italy's coast is drawing fresh scrutiny to the gaps in international safety rules and standards - yet there may be little appetite among the world's major shipping nations and companies for big changes anytime soon.While an international regime exists for the training of mariners on everything from car ferries to cruise ships, enforcing that is very much a national affair.Shipping executives, insurers and maritime attorneys say the problem is one of cost - the cost of more comprehensive training schemes like those used in the military. It is a burden that shipping nations and their largest shipping companies do not want to shoulder.Given that maritime nations and the industry want to promote growth throughout the world, imposing a heavier "level of training and certification would be perceived as being quite onerous," said David Loh, a maritime lawyer with Cozen O'Connor in New York and a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy.The training of mariners on commercial ships is governed by the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention, known in the industry as STCW, which was drafted in 1978 under the auspices of the ...

Crew members calmed panicking passengers and guided hundreds onto lifeboats When the Costa Concordia was listing heavily on its starboard side, Ciro Iosso and other crew members calmed panicking passengers and guided hundreds onto lifeboats even after the captain had abandoned ship.Below, as the engine room flooded in minutes, third officer Andrea Carollo saw that nothing could be done there and rushed to help passengers waiting to get off the cruise liner, holed on a rock on an Italian island.Anxious to show that they at least had done their duty, mariners distanced themselves from criticism, directed particularly at their captain, that followed the night rescue."I could have saved myself and not done my duty, but I didn't. I waited and helped get at least 300 people on lifeboats," said Iosso, an electrician on the doomed ship."I'm very proud, and above all, I have a clear conscience," he said as he waited for a train ticket to take him home to his wife and five-year-old son in Torre del Greco, near Naples.The crew's story has been overshadowed by passenger complaints of chaos and poor communication during the evacuation and above all by the mistakes and alleged cowardice of Captain Francesco Schettino, ...

This is a human tragedy that came close to being even worse than it was ITF general secretary David Cockroft stated: "This is a human tragedy that came close to being even worse than it was. We understand that six people are currently known to be dead and 10 missing, six of them seafarers. The wellbeing of their families and of the passengers and crew who went through this harrowing experience is at the forefront of everyone's thoughts today.""There is some comfort in the fact that the ship is owned by a reputable company and, importantly, is Italian flagged, so a full investigation is certain. We trust that this will cover all aspects of the accident and issues surrounding the subsequent evacuation."He continued: "We wish to salute the individual acts of heroism and selflessness that are emerging, including from crew, rescue services and the people of Giglio who have thrown open their homes to the survivors.""The ITF is ready to offer any help it can to its colleagues in Italy, where the trade unions are playing an important support role in helping those affected."Source: ITF

A need for a review of cruise ship safety in light of the recent Costa Concordia Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL) today announced the Committee will conduct a hearing to review cruise ship safety in light of the recent Costa Concordia incident in the Mediterranean Sea."The Costa Concordia tragedy is a wakeup call for the United States and international maritime organizations to carefully review and make certain we have in place all appropriate standards to ensure passengers' safety on cruise ships," Mica said."In general, cruise travel is a safe form of transportation and an important jobs provider for the nation's economy. Congress must closely examine how this incident occurred and address questions raised regarding vessel safety and operating standards and crew training requirements. The Committee will review the events of this specific incident, current safety measures and training requirements set by law and international maritime transportation agreements to ensure this mode of transportation remains as safe as possible."Mica has asked Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) to help lead the review and preliminary investigations in preparation for a hearing to be planned for February."Although it is early in the investigatory process, it ...

Costa Concordia Environmental Impact As Italian rescue crews dealt with a major cruise ship wreck Tuesday, the tragedy of missing persons and rising casualties from the Costa Concordia were not their only concerns.The ship, which is foundering within Italy's largest protected marine area, also contains several thousand gallons of heavy fuel oil and diesel.Officials in the area say that a potential fuel spill from the ship "would be a disaster," reports BBC News.The waters and Tuscan Archipelago near the wrecked ship contain rare and important plants and animals, including the critically endangered Mediterranean monk seal.So far, no fuel has spilled from the wreck and officials are racing to keep it that way. According to The Guardian, booms have been staged around the wreck and a Dutch salvage firm has been hired to extract the ship's fuel.The salvage team may begin inspecting the ship on Wednesday and, according to The Washington Post, complete the fuel extraction within two to four weeks.The Washington Post reports the salvage company's manager of operations, Kees van Essen, said "The vessel is stable and we feel confident that removal can be done in a fairly rapid way." He added that a salvage operation won't "increase the ...