Mediterranean ferry safety improving after tragedy

Citation

(2001), "Mediterranean ferry safety improving after tragedy", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310eab.007

Mediterranean ferry safety improving after tragedy

Mediterranean ferry safety improving after tragedy

Ferry safety in the Mediterranean Sea appears to be improving following the sinking of the 4,407gt Express Samina off the Greek island of Paros last year, the German motoring association ADAC said. Every spring, inspectors of the Munich-based organisation go undercover to evaluate ferries in various European waters.

ADAC said its results showed "signs of improvement" compared to previous years. "But better equipment does not necessarily mean more safety", it added. "On many ships, crew training for emergencies still leaves much to be desired."

Seven of the 22 tested ferries received a rating of "good". Two vessels even received a "very good" from the ADAC inspectors. The winner of this year's survey was the 31,647gt Carthage, owned by Compagnie Tunisienne de Navigation. She operates between Tunis and Genoa.

The worst ferry inspected by ADAC was Trasmediterranea's 7,054gt Ciudad de Salamanca. She was operating on the route Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca at the time of the test. ADAC had a long list of defects for her. These included claims that: crane devices for lifeboats were poorly maintained and rusty, the sides of the lifeboats were full of drill holes, cases carrying life vests were tied shut with ropes and a closet with life vests was locked, with no key to be found.

The Express Samina disaster in September 2000, which left over 80 dead, motivated ADAC to focus its inspections on Greece, where ten of the tested ferries are based. The association gave five of these a rating of "good". Strintzis Lines' 29,415gt Blue Star 1 even got a "very good".

"None of the Greek ships failed the test with a negative rating", ADAC said. It pointed out that the 5,131gt Express Apollon, operated by Minoan Flying Dolphins (MFD), even improved from "poor" back in 1999 to "good" this year. MFD had also owned the Express Samina.

Greek owners, however, need to focus more on training their crews adequately, it is claimed. ADAC said in tests with its inspectors on Greek ferries, it sometimes took up to 30 minutes for a lifeboat to be launched. They found it was 20 minutes before the fire-fighting pump had built up enough pressure to work properly.

"This is often accompanied by everything from sloppy maintenance to the incorrect use of safety equipment", ADAC said.

Its inspectors found that emergency exits could not be opened and cases with life vests were locked. They discovered lifeboats with holes in them and life rafts tightly tied to the ship.

Still, none of the tested vessels was assessed as "very poor", ADAC said. However, in addition to the Ciudad de Salamanca, two other ferries received a "poor": the 3,984gt Kraljica Mira and the 1,016gt Arlequin Rojo. The association said ten units were "satisfactory".

(Lloyd's Casualty Week, Vol. 324 No. 10, 1 June 2001)