Costa Concordia

Carnival Corporation which runs the Costa Cruises line along with other big players such as P&O, Cunard and Princess has today announced that it is reviewing safety procedures in light of the Concordia disaster.

Mickey Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation defended their safety record as being “excellent”, but admitted that the tragedy had “called into question” their emergency response procedures. He went on to say “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”.

Retired U.S. Navy Captain James Hunn will conduct the revue. Captain Hunn is currently the company’s senior vice president of  Maritime Policy & Compliance.

cruiseastute.com says …

“Modern cruise ships are exceptionally safe – they have to be designed, built, operated and maintained under international  law.

However, as ships get larger, evacuating more passengers is obviously going to be more problematic. The largest ships such as Oasis Of The Seas can carry over 6,000 passengers and it can be a struggle even to disembark them during port visits.

It would also seem that some lines are not conducting evacuation drills with the passengers for up to 24 hours after sailing (the legal limit). This is clearly not good practice.

We also question the wisdom of storing lifejackets in cabins. Sending everyone down to their cabins is the last thing you want to do when a ship is taking on water.”

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