Costa Concordia Disaster: Carnival Corp. Wants Safety Review

MIAMI -- Carnival Corp., the parent company of Costa Cruises, announced on Thursday a comprehensive audit and review of all safety and emergency response procedures across all 10 of the company's cruise lines.

Carnival Chairman and CEO Micky Arison said in a news release that last week's accident of the Costa Concordia in Italy has called into question the company's safety and emergency response procedures and practices.

The Costa Concordia capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio on Jan. 13 after the ship detoured from its programmed route and slammed into a reef. At least 11 people were killed and 21 are missing.

"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," Arison said.

The review is being led by retired U.S. Navy Capt. James Hunn, who currently is the company's senior vice president of Maritime Policy & Compliance.

Hunn and executives from each of the corporation's subsidiary cruise lines will review all safety policies, employee training, bridge management and response and support efforts. Carnival reported that it also is engaging outside experts to audit of all of the company's emergency response and safety procedures. The outside experts will also conduct a review of the Costa Concordia accident.

"This company-wide initiative will identify lessons learned and best practices to further ensure the security and safety of all of our passengers and crew," chief operations officer Howard Frank said.

Earlier Thursday, Cruise Line International Association President and CEO Christine Duffy called on the International Maritime Organization to undertake a comprehensive evaluation from the findings of the Costa Concordia investigation to ensure the cruising industry remains safe.

"While there is still a great deal not yet known about this incident, all of our members recognize the seriousness of these events and want to ensure that we apply the lessons learned from this tragic event," Duffy said in London.

Carnival said in the news release that it welcomes such an evaluation.

Comments

[HarperMan]

12:52 PM on 01/24/2012

Published reports show this man was hired as ship's security or safety officer in 2002 to full master captain of the Concordia in 2006. If this is true, such a seemingly meteoric rise up the chain of command must be justified by Costa management.

[what-safety]

05:32 AM on 01/22/2012

what safety procedures
my daughter just completed 2 weeks aboard Costa Classica and did not have any lifeboat drill at all

[ussuri]

01:19 AM on 01/22/2012

how about hiring only good captains and good crew?
maybe someone should monitor the captain on each ship with over 4000 people?
security cameras ?

[trailerguy]

02:45 PM on 01/21/2012

You leave most of your on the shore when you take a cruise. It used to boats were british or american were you would have some redress, now they are flagss of convience. So if your are a victim of a criem, or suffer an accident.

[bobnky]

01:08 AM on 01/21/2012

If I was a resident of Porto Giglio I would want that thing cleared out of there.

[wallypiper41]

02:33 PM on 01/20/2012

Lessons Learned:
When on a Cruise, carry your life jacket with you 24/7 . A Life Jacket carrier of some type needs to be introduced so passengers can tote or wear and keep them at hand.
..You and the family are in the dinning room and your life jackets are in your room maybe three or more decks down, you will not be able to get them. Remember no lights the ship turned side ways and taking on water.

[rougnz]

12:58 PM on 01/20/2012

Good they are doing this. Unfortunate it was not done before the disaster.

[waitingforlifeafterbush]

08:20 PM on 01/20/2012

Wouldn't have made a difference, unfortunately; the captain of this ship acted recklessly on his own by getting close to the island and ramming the rocks and not acting quickly enough after his fatal decision/mistake to begin abandonment of the ship.

None of these so-called safety reviews will do anything to correct a rogue captain. This is all just feel good stuff for PR purposes to try to stem a loss of passengers signing up for cruises right now in their most lucrative time of booking.