editorial
seatec 1/2012
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EDITORIAL-IN-CHIEF
Risto Valkeapää
THE HUMAN FACTOR
On Friday January 13th something akin to a nightmare in the history
of the cruise business transpired on the Italian coast. The Italian cruise
ship Costa Concordia partially sank after hitting a reef at Isola del Giglio.
The cause of the accident is considered to be human error, i.e.
poor judgment and performance by the ship’s captain. According to
IMO statistics, the human factor has been the decisive element in almost 80 percent of the accidents. In the future, instead of improving technological solutions, the industry is gearing towards minimising the risks brought on by the human factor.
A similar tendency was perceived in the evolution of nuclear pow-
EDITORIAL COORDINATOR
Mirkka Lindroos
er as well. I would not want to compare the Costa Concordia incident
to Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, but there is a likeness here,
especially concerning people’s faith in the all-powerful technology at
their disposal. Both at the power plant and aboard the ship the man
CONTRIBUTORS
in charge was feeling pretty good about himself all the way up to the
Sami J. Anteroinen
Merja Kihl
Ari Mononen
point when the crew came by with the bad news.
Costa Concordia had over 4,000 passengers and crew members. The accident is believed to have claimed over 30 people’s lives.
COVER PHOTO
The Mediterranean Sea was also threatened by a major environmen-
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd
tal hazard, as there was over 2,000 tons of oil in the ship.
The full scope of the accident is not known yet. Some guidelines
about the financial ramifications, however, can be gathered from the
PRINTED BY
PunaMusta Oy, February 2012
estimate submitted by the owner company, Carnival Cruises, to the
SEC. The disclosure document places the price tag for the accident
between 155-175 million dollars.
This figure doesn’t appear to be exceedingly high, if one considers the price of construction for cruise ships. For all practical purposes, however, Costa Concordia can be considered a lost cause. There’s
little hope that the ship will be back in business one day.
The accident took place as the ship was doing a ”salute” very
close to the shore. According to Captain Francesco Schettini, the cruise
line had instructed him to perform the maneuver. Be it as it may, this
kind of risky business always falls under the discretion of the ultimate
decision-maker – in both luxury cruise ships and nuclear power plants.
Of course, it is easy to be wise on dry land and speculate on how
things should be run on the seas. Hindsight will make an appearance
in a courtroom quite shortly. The topic itself is rather touchy for the
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industry experts. For example, classification organisations are hesitant
to comment the case publicly. Still, we know now that the accident
was not caused by a technical failure of any kind.
There’s something positive to be learned from all of this as well:
4,000 people were rescued in extremely trying conditions. Even if the
behaviour of the ship’s captain was sub-standard, the crew proved
their mettle in a tight spot. As for lessons learned, one can only hope.
RISTO VALKEAPÄÄ
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF