There's a scene in the disaster movie The Towering Inferno in which Steve McQueens fire chief rails against

architects for building office blocks higher and higher with scant regard for public safety. So what would he have made of the gigantic, floating hotels that pass for modern cruise liners? In the past decade, the size of the passenger ships cruising the worlds oceans has doubled. The biggest of these monsters weigh more than 225,000 tons and carry more than 6,000 passengers
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087133/Costa-Concordia-accident-SoDID-cause-cruise-ship-hit-rocks.html#ixzz1uHDPwOLh

Even the Costa Concordia is no minnow. As the 26th largest passenger ship in the world, its 13 passenger decks are stacked on a vessel nearly 1,000 ft long and 100ft high above the water. When it set sail from Italy on Friday, it resembled a floating office block, rather than a conventional ship. For years, there have been concerns within the shipping industry that these ocean-going behemoths are too big, that their crews are poorly trained and that their officers are too reliant on electronic navigation aids. Crucially experts have warned that the construction and safety standards in place for modern cruise ships were designed for vessels half their size. So how did the Costa Concordia come to capsize within yards of the shore? Last night there were at least three conflicting theories about what happened.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087133/Costa-Concordia-accident-SoDID-cause-cruise-ship-hit-rocks.html#ixzz1uHDXGVva

What is certain is that, soon after the voyage began, passengers heard a bang and the ship was plunged into darkness. The first theory is based on the captains account of events that he hit an uncharted rock and reacted by bringing the vessel into safer shallow waters off the island of Giglio. There it was damaged again on rocks and rolled on to its side.

Under International Maritime Organisation rules, captains are supposed to use the ship itself as a lifeboat and return to port for evacuation. The second is that there was a massive electrical failure which affected the ships navigation equipment, or a computer failure that sent the navigation systems haywire causing it to go too close to shore where it hit the rocks.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087133/Costa-Concordia-accident-SoDID-cause-cruise-ship-hit-rocks.html#ixzz1uHDejrfV

A third theory is that it was old-fashioned human error or even recklessness that allowed the vessel to ground in shallow waters. The investigation will look into every decision, order and event that led up to the sinking and will take months to come to a conclusion. On paper, human error remains the prime suspect. It is the main cause of 80 per cent of shipping accidents and the crew may simply have become distracted or lost concentration early on in the voyage, allowing the vessel to drift to the coast.

Human error? Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia, is taken into police custody on Saturday

However, the Electronic Chart Display Information System a computer based system that uses GPS and mapping to pinpoint a vessels location should have sounded an alarm the moment the ship left its course. If it didnt, then it suggests human error was compounded by a computer failure. One clue to what happened lies in the reports of an explosion and the failure of the ships lights. That points to an electrical failure, perhaps caused by a power surge which led to a malfunction in the ships generators. The ship is powered by a bank of diesel engines which generate electricity to turn the propellers and power lights and heating on board. The power surge could have led to an explosion in the engine room causing the lights to fail, the engines to shut down and the steering to stop working. If that happened close to shore, the ship could have run into rocks. The systems are designed to come back on, but it takes time, and there might not have been enough. A similar failure hit the Queen Mary 2 in September 2010 as it approached Barcelona. On that occasion, there were no hazards nearby so there was no immediate danger and the engines were working again within half an hour. Maritime safety expert Phil Anderson had experience of a power failure in the North Atlantic years ago on a cargo ship. The chief engineer got to the engine room and restarted the engine but it didnt give us back the steering, he said. So the engine went on and the revs started building up. The ship turned around sideways to the wind and waves, a highly dangerous position. Alternatively, maritime safety expert Alan Graveson believes the captain may have indeed have hit an uncharted rock as he claims, and although the ship would have had an echo sounder to detect unforeseen objects, the warning of approaching rocks could have come to late to do anything about it.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087133/Costa-Concordia-accident-SoDID-cause-cruise-ship-hit-rocks.html#ixzz1uHDoNLhW

Uncharted rocks seem unlikely in busy waters off Italy. But there is a precedent. In April 2007, a cruise ship called the Sea Diamond struck a reef in Greek waters and sank, killing two passengers. A survey later found that the reef was not charted correctly on official maps. Mr Graveson said: If thats what happened in this case the captain would have headed to land and might have hit more rocks as the ship approached the coast. A ship the size of the Costa Concordia is unable to float if water is less than 26ft deep which explains why it so quickly turned on its side. But if it had sunk in deep water, hundreds could have died. Whatever the cause, Mr Graveson believes the accident highlights a widespread problem with the new generation of massive cruise ships. They may be more vulnerable when they take in water, and more likely to list. They are certainly tricky to steer. Crews complain that they are like trying to steer a block of flats and that they are vulnerable to side wind. They are also harder to evacuate. What little outdoor deck space is available becomes more and more crowded as extra storeys of cabins are added to the design.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087133/Costa-Concordia-accident-SoDID-cause-cruise-ship-hit-rocks.html#ixzz1uHDwbl9R

And ironically 100 years since Titanic there are concerns about lifeboats. Andrew Linington, of the union Nautilus UK, said lifeboats on ships had barely moved on since 1912. Boats are still lowered on wires and if the vessel is listing badly, half are unusable. In contrast, oil rigs already use escape capsules, or free fall lifeboats enclosed pods that drop into the water from a sloping ramp. They are quicker to use and do not need to be lowered on wires. Experts stress, however, that despite the weekends shocking events, accidents remain rare.

Cruise operator plagued by near misses

By CLAIRE ELLICOTT

From its humble beginnings as an Italian family firm, Costa has risen to become Europes top cruise operator. But it has been plagued by a history of accidents and scandal aboard its 15 ships. One collision caused the deaths of three crew members, while a near-miss prompted an investigation into the company and its safety record. And in 2008, the Costa Concordia hit the dockside in Palermo, Sicily, in bad weather, causing damage to the bow, though no one was hurt. It is not known whether the same captain was sailing it.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087133/Costa-Concordia-accident-SoDID-cause-cruise-ship-hit-rocks.html#ixzz1uHE5X7RV

More seriously, the Costa Europa crashed in 2008 as its captain tried to dock at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt in high winds, killing three crew and injuring four passengers. At the time, an unnamed maritime official blamed 100 per cent human error, but Costa insisted bad weather was the cause. Later that year, power failure was blamed for the Costa Classica smashing into a cargo vessel in Chinas Yangtze River, injuring three people. The cruise line has also been plagued by reports of ineffective equipment and scandal. In 2008, the Costa Atlantica developed steering problems. Separately, a crew member was arrested on a charge of possessing and importing child pornography. The following year, the cruise line was fined 23,000 for deceptive advertising and there was a near-mutiny on the Costa Europa over engine problems. There was also a fire on the Costa Romantica in the generator room which led to 1,429 passengers being evacuated.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087133/Costa-Concordia-accident-SoDID-cause-cruise-ship-hit-rocks.html#ixzz1uHEEeb49

Costas safety record was called into question after a near-miss in the Channel in 2008. The crew of the Costa Atlantica almost collided with a car transporter and was criticised by the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch in an official report for failing to obey the waterways strict two-way traffic system. Costa began as a cargo shipping firm but carried passengers from 1947. In 2000 it was bought by Carnival Corporal, the worlds largest cruise operator which also owns Cunard Line and P&O Cruises in the UK. The firm owns a combined fleet of more than 100 ships, has a 49 per cent share of the total worldwide cruise market and made 1.3billion profit last year.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087133/Costa-Concordia-accident-SoDID-cause-cruise-ship-hit-rocks.html#ixzz1uHEMrPbf

Grave imprudence and incompetence Transcript of the Preliminary Court Inquiry into Costa Concordia Disaster
By gCaptain Staff On January 19, 2012

Serious, and unambiguous statements by Dr Valeria Montesarchio from the Court of Grosseto. The following are a few highlights, the entire transcript is below. The grave imprudence and incompetence that marked the conduct of the suspect at the time when he initiated the rash manoeuvre just mentioned is evident and indisputable. The impact with the reef caused the springing of a leak, with the water flooding the engine rooms and causing the electrical system of the engines to fail, leading to the blackout within the ship, which first veered on the port side, then began to ship water and list on the opposite side. In that predicament the captain, due to incompetence and negligence, underestimated the extent of the damage and failed to notify the coastal authorities of the accident in timely fashion,

reporting that an electrical problem was involved (blackout), without mentioning immediately the impact that had caused the springing of the leak and the flow of water into five compartments of the ships engine room and thus delaying the implementation of emergency procedures and rescue operations The SOS was only sent 30-40 minutes after the impact (as reported by Schettino himself); in the meantime no external alarm signal was given to the coastal authorities to make the real seriousness of the situation aboard understood. At 10:58 PM the captain ordered the ship to be abandoned and informed the coastal authorities (see the informative report of the commander of the Naval Operational Division of Porto Santo Stefano) but, during the said operations, left the ship when there were still at least a hundred persons aboard ship The emergency manoeuvre that the captain performed to bring the ship alongside the coast of the island (which manoeuvre was described by him in detail during the interrogation) is worthless for exempting him from responsibilities or in any case for attenuating the said responsibilities, since it is only natural that what was involved, at that point, was a due act to limit as much as possible the tragic consequences that the serious error committed and admitted unfortunately caused. But there is also serious circumstantial evidence of culpability for the other offences Francesco Schettino is charged with. Schettino admitted his imprudence under questioning and tried to mitigate the enormity of his error with the subsequent manoeuvre, effected to prevent the moving away of the ship from the coast of Isola del Giglio. Recalling that manoeuvre in detail, Schettino affirms being a good captain. That appears to indicate an incredible thoughtlessness in assessing the actual scope of the behaviour engaged in to the detriment of over 4,000 persons entrusted to his responsibility. It is indeed evident that with the said manoeuvre the captain caused the shipwreck of the passengers and the death of verified victims. On this point, concerning the error committed, Schettino admits the circumstance but then goes on to describe the phase of the emergency manoeuvre which, at that point, as stated, at least formed part of his duties. But to this thoughtlessness also must be added the total incapacity to manage the subsequent phases of the emergency created, thus delaying the rescue operations from land. Finally, the negative evaluation of the individuals personality includes the fact of having abandoned the ship ahead of all the passengers on board and of having remained over an hour on

the reef where he had disembarked in a situation of complete inactivity. In the final analysis the serious incompetence, imprudence and negligence that mark the behaviour of the captain make real and present the danger of repetition of offences of the same sort as those for which we proceed, i.e. of seriously culpable offences committed to the detriment of third parties entrusted, owing to the activity engaged in, to the responsibility of the suspect. FOR THESE REASONS Having read articles 273, 274 and 284 of the Code of Criminal Procedure., She applies to Francesco Schettino, under investigation for the offences pursuant to articles 113, 449(2), in reference to Art. 428, 589(3), 81(1) and 591 of the Penal Code, the measure of house arrest to be executed at his residence located in Meta di Sorrento (NA) at Via Vito San Cristoforo 10, with absolute prohibition against going away or communicating by any means with persons other than his cohabitants. The sinking of the Italian cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, has lead to new regulations being adopted jointly by two major cruise ship associations. The European Cruise Council and the Cruise Lines International Assoc. passed three new safety rules. Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/323985#ixzz1uHNuhmt0 3 New Cruise Ship Regulations One new regulation states "additional adult lifejackets (must be) onboard each cruise ship...the number of additional adult lifejackets to be provided must not be less than the total number of persons berthed within the ships most populated main vertical fire zone." Thus ruling means ships must now carry more lifejackets than actual persons on board. Another regulation states "to minimize unnecessary disruptions and distractions on the bridge...access (to the bridge) is to be limited to those with operational functions during any period of restricted maneuvering, or when increased vigilance is required." And finally another regulation states that when 'passage planning,' the planning of a ship's movement throughout its journey, each bridge team member will be "thoroughly" briefed on that plan "well in advance of its implementation" and that the passage plan must be drafted by a "designated officer and approved by the master." Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/323985#ixzz1uHOEPKQd Cruise Ship Safety Regulations adopted The belief is that the captain of the Costa Concordia made the decision to pass too close to the island in order to impress someone and that the decision was not known by all on the bridge. Further, a woman thought to be his mistress was on the bridge at the time, and that may have inspired one of the new regulations. Further, some passengers went back to their cabins to get their lifejackets and then had trouble finding their way back to ship departure areas in the listing, darkened ship and it is thought that having more lifejackets in muster areas will work to prevent such occurrences.

"As the Concordia incident demonstrates, there is no such thing as perfect safety (but) we do strive for a perfect commitment to safety," Lefebvre said in his press statement. By bringing forward voluntary initiatives such as these, we significantly and immediately improve safety standards." Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/323985#ixzz1uHOTgK00
Genoa, Italy-based Costa Cruises said recently its introduced seven safety initiatives following the January capsizing of its Costa Concordia ship, which claimed 32 lives.

Muster drills: Each guest must be trained in emergency procedures before the ships leave port, which exceeds the current within 24 hours after departure national and international regulation. Officers in uniform are also required to be present during the safety training to reinforce its solemnity and for guests to ask questions if needed. Emergency drill card: Costa has implemented an electronic card system to monitor guest participation in emergency safety training. The numbered card must be given to the crew member and scanned during training to record participation. New software has also been introduced to send invitations to guests who have missed the training. Enhanced website: A new website page called Us for You is now available at www.costacruise.com, which provides cruisers with information on the cruise lines safety measures, records and a video, and other pertinent crew safety training and ship maintenance related documents. Advanced route monitoring system: A real-time route-monitoring system has been implemented to manage and monitor fleet routes. The system will allow the cruise line to control position and course of its entire fleet in real time, to verify the safety level of route plans and the actual position of each ship compared with the original route planned by its captain. Bridge management training: More ship officers will receive training at the C-Smart simulation center in The Netherlands on a new bridge-management model first introduced in 2010. The training focuses on a more collaborative decision making process. While the captain will have the power to intervene in decisions as mandated by law, he/she will no longer be the sole person issuing orders. Formal sharing of ships navigation plan: More officer involvement is now required in the decision-making process when it comes to the navigation of a ship before departure and during special maneuvers that require supervision. Access to bridge: The cruise line has introduced a new bridge-access policy to restrict access to the ships bridge to crew with operational functions during maneuvers that require additional supervision. This is being done in an effort to minimize distractions. The captain and also the cruise line must authorize access of any other non-essential person to the bridge.