The Costa Concordia incident will bring about changes in the way cruise liners and their 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 Malta’s Maritime Squadron added:

“Much boils down to the training of the ship’s 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 liner’s master, Francesco Schettino, accused of manslaughter and abandoning the ship before completing 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.

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 for assistance or alerted the Coast Guard to be on stand-by for an evacuation.

Captain’s 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.

“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.”

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.

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