Earlier today, a press conference held in Genoa, chaired by Pier Luigi Foschi, Chairman and CEO of Costa Crociere, revealed a number of facts concerning the accident of Costa Concordia. As yet without being in possession of all the facts, the line did its best to explain the disaster, defend its position, and express it condolences to the families of those who had perished, Alan Lam reports.
It was confirmed that the reason for the ship to be sailing off course was because the captain wished to give his guests a better view of the shore scene and to salute the island of Giglio on Friday the 13th of January, a feast day in Catholic Italy.
The crew was aware of the captain’s intention but was powerless to interfere, as the captain is the supreme commander of the vessel. In general, the rule of the company does not allow deviation from the course; but the captain has the power to change course if he deems necessary on account of bad weather or other unfavourable sailing conditions.
Under normal circumstances, if a vessel goes off course, an alarm would sound on the bridge, unless the computerised navigation system (which is always connected to the GPS) was deliberately overridden. In this case the alarm did not go off.
It is now looking increasingly likely that this accident was largely due to a human error. A few passengers have reported that they had seen the captain drinking alcohol during dinner. The accident happened 3.5 hours after the ship set sail from Civitavecchia. During that time the captain was not always present on the bridge. He was not required to do so. But he was there at the time of the accident. It is expedient to add that, during that time, the bridge manning level was above requirement.
On the question concerning drug and alcohol, Foschi was unable to confirm either way; but he was adamant that all Costa crew, without exception, were subject to random and regular testing, and that as far as he knew Captain Francesco Schettino was not a alcohol drinker. But the master is under investigation as to whether he had left the ship prior to his responsibility concerning the evacuation procedure ended.
It was repeatedly emphasized that this was an extremely rare occurrence. “We always have safety and security in mind,” said Foschi. “We provide the highest level of training for our staff. Every other week a full safety drill takes place involving the entire crew.” He thanked the crew of Costa Concordia for doing a good job in evacuating the ship in two hours, stressing that the procedure was carried out under a set of very difficult circumstances. According to him, the crew had “responded adequately” to the disaster. Because of the severe list, the evacuation could only be carried out on one side of the vessel, which was why many passengers had to wait for more than an hour for their turn in the lifeboats. This is one area the line will be looking to improve in the future.
When questioned as to why the safety drill had not been carried out prior the accident. Foschi quoted the regulation requirement of it being carried out within 24 hours of the vessel setting sail. Despite the question, Costa Concordia had complied with this rule.
He underlined that shipping companies had to adhere to very stringent safety rules. Costa was not only in compliance to all the international safety regulations; it went beyond them by “adopting spontaneous checks and carrying out tests.” He pointed out that he was not yet in possession of all the information to enable him to understand the entire cycle of the accident. Costa was still waiting for the content of the “Black Box” and footages from the ships cameras to be released to them by the legal authority. It would give them more information on the sequence of events leading up to the impact.
Two facts were established: Costa was able to confirm that the captain had contacted the marine department at 10.05PM on Friday night to inform them of the accident; the listing was caused by the ingress of water.
Costa Concordia was a very contemporary ship, equipped with the latest navigation system. The ship was certified by both Italian and US coastguards in accordance to the highest possible international maritime safety standards. As a part of the certification renewal audit, Costa Concordia was inspected as recently as November 2011, during a journey from Malta to Civitavecchia, and was found to be in compliance with all related safety rules.
The immediately concern after the rescue operation will be to debunker the ship and to remove her from site. There is about 2,300 tonnes of fuel onboard, including 17 tanks full of heavy fuel and four tanks full of oil. Debunker is urgently required to avoid any potential environmental disaster. There is as yet no evidence of any leakage.
Costa will face compensation and other financial issues. Foschi stated that the disaster occurred on Friday night and it was still too early to find out the extend of cancellations on future Costa cruises. He accepted that there would be negative impacts on the cruise business as a whole and Costa in particular. He hoped that this would only be a short time. Costa was a company with a good track record and, he was sure, would “emerge as strong as before.”
Yesterday, Carnival Corp & plc, which owns Costa Crociere, had published financial information relating to this accident in compliance with the stock market regulations. The group expected the damage to cost in the region of $95 million, excluding compensation. Foschi insisted that the Carnival group as a whole, and Costa in particular, had a strong balance sheet to absorb the probable expenditure.
As to whether or not the vessel is salvageable, this is still under evaluation.
On behalf of Costa Crociere, the Chairman expressed his deepest condolences to the families of those who had perished. And issued sincere apologies to its guests and crew.
