Free Cruise Ship Blues: The Underside of the Cruise Ship Industry by Ross A. Klein Page B
Book: Cruise Ship Blues: The Underside of the Cruise Ship Industry by Ross A. Klein Read Free Book Online
Authors: Ross A. Klein
engine failures and being left adrift. You may recall the early morning collision in the English Channel in 1999 when Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Dream collided with the freighter Ever Decent. Pictures appeared in most newspapers showing cargo containers on the front deck of the Norwegian Dream's mauled bow. Miraculously, there were no serious injuries, particularly given the dangerous cargo, including toxic chemicals, carried by the Ever Decent .
Other major collisions involving cruise ships include:
the 1989 collision of Carnival Cruise Line’s Celebration with a Cuban cement freighter, resulting in three deaths on the freighter 4
a 1991 collision involving the Island Princess and the Regent Sea , causing major damage to both ships, while they were in port at Skagway, Alaska
• the 1992 collision between the Europa and a freighter 180 miles off the Hong Kong coast
• the 1992 collision of the Royal Pacific with a fishing vessel, resulting in both ships sinking and the deaths of approximately 100 people
• the 1993 collision of the Noordam with a freighter in the Gulf of Mexico. 5
There have also been serious near misses. In 1997 Carnival Cruise Line’s Jubilee barely avoided a middle-of-the-night collision with a fishing vessel off the California coast. 6 A year earlier Holland America Line’s Statendam narrowly missed colliding with a barge carrying 21,000 gallons of propane and palettes of dynamite in the Discovery Passage, British Columbia. 7
Ships Do Sink
In addition to the Royal Pacific sinking in 1992, other cruise ships have sunk. In 1998 Windjammer Cruises’ flagship, Fantome, sunk
as it attempted to avoid Hurricane Mitch. There were no passengers aboard but 30 crew members died. In December 1999 Premier Cruises’ Seabreeze sank in high seas off the east coast of the United States. No passengers were aboard and all seafarers were rescued.
INVESTIGATIONS
Between 1980 and 1992 the US Coast Guard investigated 73 accidents involving large cruise ships. These included 13 collisions, 16 fires, 22 equipment or material failures, and 22 groundings.
Other ships that have gone down in recent years include: the Sir Francis Drake, which sunk in 1999 while moored during a hurricane; the Sun Vista (previously Celebrity Cruises’ Meridian), which also in
1999 sunk off Malaysia following an engine room fire that could not be contained; New Paradise Cruises’ Romantica, which sunk in the Mediterranean in 1997 after an engine room fire; 8 and Starlauro’s Achille Lauro, which went down in the Indian Ocean off the Seychelles in 1994. Only in the sinking of the Achille Lauro was there any loss of life: four people died and eight were injured.
Interestingly, Holland America Line’s new Prinsendam — previously sailing as the Seabourn Sun and before that as the Royal Viking Sun — is named after a vessel which in 1980 sunk 140 miles off the coast of Alaska following an engine room fire that necessitated a middle-of-the-night abandoning of the ship.
Who’s Responsible for Cruise Ship Safety?
In May 2001 Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norway was detained in Miami following a US Coast Guard inspection that found 106 leaks in the ship’s fire sprinkler system. The leaks had been temporarily patched with soft rubber, which “a fire could melt ... and the compromised pipe’s loss of pressure would threaten the entire
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES TARGET CRUISE SHIP SAFETY IN 2003
Under the July 2001 Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MOU), European countries will target cruise ships in a concentrated inspection campaign beginning in May 2003. 13 The 2001 Paris MOU grew out of concerns about operational standards on passenger vessels following the release of inspection data for 2000, which indicated an 80-percent increase in operational deficiencies — including inadequate firefighting and safety equipment — over the previous four years.
The Paris MOU
Other major collisions involving cruise ships include:
the 1989 collision of Carnival Cruise Line’s Celebration with a Cuban cement freighter, resulting in three deaths on the freighter 4
a 1991 collision involving the Island Princess and the Regent Sea , causing major damage to both ships, while they were in port at Skagway, Alaska
• the 1992 collision between the Europa and a freighter 180 miles off the Hong Kong coast
• the 1992 collision of the Royal Pacific with a fishing vessel, resulting in both ships sinking and the deaths of approximately 100 people
• the 1993 collision of the Noordam with a freighter in the Gulf of Mexico. 5
There have also been serious near misses. In 1997 Carnival Cruise Line’s Jubilee barely avoided a middle-of-the-night collision with a fishing vessel off the California coast. 6 A year earlier Holland America Line’s Statendam narrowly missed colliding with a barge carrying 21,000 gallons of propane and palettes of dynamite in the Discovery Passage, British Columbia. 7
Ships Do Sink
In addition to the Royal Pacific sinking in 1992, other cruise ships have sunk. In 1998 Windjammer Cruises’ flagship, Fantome, sunk
as it attempted to avoid Hurricane Mitch. There were no passengers aboard but 30 crew members died. In December 1999 Premier Cruises’ Seabreeze sank in high seas off the east coast of the United States. No passengers were aboard and all seafarers were rescued.
INVESTIGATIONS
Between 1980 and 1992 the US Coast Guard investigated 73 accidents involving large cruise ships. These included 13 collisions, 16 fires, 22 equipment or material failures, and 22 groundings.
Other ships that have gone down in recent years include: the Sir Francis Drake, which sunk in 1999 while moored during a hurricane; the Sun Vista (previously Celebrity Cruises’ Meridian), which also in
1999 sunk off Malaysia following an engine room fire that could not be contained; New Paradise Cruises’ Romantica, which sunk in the Mediterranean in 1997 after an engine room fire; 8 and Starlauro’s Achille Lauro, which went down in the Indian Ocean off the Seychelles in 1994. Only in the sinking of the Achille Lauro was there any loss of life: four people died and eight were injured.
Interestingly, Holland America Line’s new Prinsendam — previously sailing as the Seabourn Sun and before that as the Royal Viking Sun — is named after a vessel which in 1980 sunk 140 miles off the coast of Alaska following an engine room fire that necessitated a middle-of-the-night abandoning of the ship.
Who’s Responsible for Cruise Ship Safety?
In May 2001 Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norway was detained in Miami following a US Coast Guard inspection that found 106 leaks in the ship’s fire sprinkler system. The leaks had been temporarily patched with soft rubber, which “a fire could melt ... and the compromised pipe’s loss of pressure would threaten the entire
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES TARGET CRUISE SHIP SAFETY IN 2003
Under the July 2001 Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MOU), European countries will target cruise ships in a concentrated inspection campaign beginning in May 2003. 13 The 2001 Paris MOU grew out of concerns about operational standards on passenger vessels following the release of inspection data for 2000, which indicated an 80-percent increase in operational deficiencies — including inadequate firefighting and safety equipment — over the previous four years.
The Paris MOU
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