concordia tragedy sets off alarm bells, tofm, 20012012

8/2/2019 Concordia Tragedy Sets Off Alarm Bells, TofM, 20012012

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Friday, January 20, 2012 , by Fiona Galea Debono

Concordia tragedy sets off alarm bells

The Costa Concordia incident will bring about changes in the way cruise liners andtheir passengers are managed while training programmes will be reviewed and

revamped, according to a maritime expert.

Training in crowd and crisis management on board already existed but the grounding

of the Italian cruise ship off the Tuscan coast last Friday would lead to the rewriting

of safety training programmes, Reuben Lanfranco said.

Due to the advancement in technology, more sophisticated passenger liners are being

built, carrying thousands of passengers.

If the Costa Concordia had to sink in open waters, the casualty rate would have been

much higher.

These ships have become too large to evacuate everyone safely. Despite the reported

panic, over 4,000 lives were still saved.

The accident, which has so far claimed the lives of 11 passengers with another 21 still

missing, sent alarm bells ringing in the international maritime community, said Capt.

Lanfranco.

The maritime consultant, former director of the Maritime Institute of the Malta

College of Arts, Science and Technology and a retired captain in the Armed Forces of

Maltas Maritime Squadron added:

Much boils down to the training of the ships crew. But it is also about experience in

carrying out the evacuation drills and their frequency.

People learn through repetition. Moreover, a dry drill can be a far cry from reality

when facing uncooperative passengers, who are fighting for their lives

The captain strongly cautioning against jumping to conclusions before the official

investigations are over.

But from his own analysis, Capt. Lanfranco maintains the behaviour of the liners

master, Francesco Schettino, accused of manslaughter and abandoning the ship beforecompleting evacuation, was irrational to the point that he may not have really

realised the consequences of his actions and opted to walk away from the problem.

He could have never expected the vessel to run aground and, realising the gravity of

the matter, was so overcome and shocked by it, Capt. Lan-franco deduced.


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A qualified search-and-rescue mission coordinator, who also lectures in incident

command and management, Capt. Lanfranco highlighted the problem of

overconfidence.

The advent of innovative technology on board can lead to that. Those in responsible

positions rely on electronic navigation equipment, which would set off an alarm if

something were amiss.

But what if the equipment malfunctions? You can never have a 100-per-cent

guarantee that it is totally functional.

Again warning against speculation until the facts are known, Capt. Lanfranco said

photographs of the listing vessel were being misinterpreted, with many commenting

about how close the Concordia was to the island of Giglio when she hit the reef.

The truth is the area where the vessel is located is not where she ran aground.

At face value, however, he questioned why the master went so close to shore and,

more importantly, why he did not communicate his intentions to anyone, asked forassistance or alerted the Coast Guard to be on stand-by for an evacuation.

Captains choice to evacuate ship

Capt. Schettino appears to have sailed into shallower waters to facilitate the

evacuation of the passengers and avoid sinking.

If that were the case, it may not have been a bad idea. But it seems he never

communicated his intention to the authorities, who would have to take the decisions in

these situations, Capt. Lanfranco said.

Definitely, if he altered course with the intention of approaching the coast, he did not

carry out the normal risk assessment. It was likely that the vessel, having such a deep

draft, would hit a reef.

If he diverted the original course to greet someone, or to please his headwaiter, as has

been stated, it was a highly irresponsible act, bearing in mind Capt. Schettino

should have known the risks involved and their consequences.

It could be that he just wanted to demonstrate how well he could manoeuvre a

massive vessel close to the shore, relying heavily on the fact that modern technology

would have indicated any impending peril.

Schettino seems lost for words

In his recorded conversation with the Coast Guard, Capt. Schettino seems to be lost

for words, according to Capt. Lanfranco.

He fails to understand how he defied direct legitimate orders by Coast Guard

commander Gregorio De Falco to return on board.


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In stressful situations at sea, captains either prove their worth or distance themselves

from the problem.

Capt. Schettino seems to have realised the consequences of his actions could result in

loss of employment and being blamed and shamed. He, therefore, shied away from

the problem in an apparently cowardly manner.

An analysis of his tone of voice showed him to be unclear and confused about his

intentions.

Assessing the damage in time

One would surely hear the side of a vessel literally ripping apart when it hits a reef.

You just cannot miss the sound of rock striking metal, said Capt. Lanfranco.

The first thing the captain should have done was to assess the damage and determine

how it affected the water-tight integrity of the vessel. The next step would be to

decide what action to take in the case of the Concordia, as soon as the reef was hit.

Based on his alleged decision, Capt. Schettino manoeuvred the vessel closer to the

coast, literally beaching it on shallow ground, possibly because he realised he could

not reach the closest port in time.

The passengers were literally in the dark

The evacuation may not have been carried out correctly and effectively, according to

Capt. Lanfranco, not because Costa Cruises do not have adequate procedures in place.

One of the disadvantages of the Concordia was that it had just left its port of

departure, meaning passengers would still not have been familiar with the vessel and

how to reach their own cabins.

It takes hours, if not days, to find your bearings on a passenger ship of that size.

The accident occurred at the start of the cruise, meaning the passengers were just

settling in, would have been excited and had not yet read the emergency procedures.

Time is of the essence because the longer it takes to carry out the evacuation, the

harder it gets. The vessel was already listing when the procedure started, rendering the

process even more dangerous.

It appeared to be a situation of virtually no control, Capt. Lanfranco said.

On the other hand, he praised the heroic acts of other crew members, not

necessarily seasoned seamen, who responsibly took the initiative to evacuate the

passengers.

Were it not for their valiant acts, more lives would have been lost.


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Master responsible for evacuation

The old tradition of the master going down with his ship is a thing of the past but he is

still responsible for the complete and effective evacuation of the vessel. To do so, he

has, to be on board, said Capt. Lanfranco.

Capt. Schettino is said to have abandoned the ship before he was meant to. So what

was he thinking?

He may have had the original intention to go on a boat to assess the damage from a

closer angle and then return on board. His excuse for not doing so is that the stern of

the vessel was already submerged.

But why did he abandon his vessel in the first place if he knew that this was likely to

happen from the assessment he was meant to have carried out immediately after the

accident?

Disputed reef has been there for ages

Capt. Schettino has stated the reef was uncharted but this is seriously disputed.

We are not talking about a buoy or another recently added man-made structure. We

are talking about a reef that has been around for thousands of years. Moreover, the

area has been traversed time and time again and the waters are known to most

navigators, Capt. Lanfranco said.

Although most charts are in electronic format, vessels are still obliged to carry the

paper versions.

You should always have a back-up system on board. One of the responsibilities of a

master before he sets sail is to carry out the correct passage planning, which entails

reviewing the route, taking into account currents, tides and timings. Good navigators

would always have done their calculations, Capt. Lanfranco said.

concordia tragedy sets off alarm bells, tofm, 20012012

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