Food for thought on grounding of Costa Concordia

LAST week I attended a lecture in London which was the most thought provoking I have heard for a very long time. The speaker was Captain Michael Lloyd, a retired ship's master with many years of experience at sea behind him and a formidable reputation as a campaigner on maritime safety issues. For several years he worked tirelessly to prevent the all too frequent deaths in enclosed spaces on ships.

But last week, onboard the President, the headquarters ship of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, he was speaking on a different subject. He recounted how in January 2012 the 114,137 gross tonnage Italian-flag cruise ship Costa Concordia collided with a submerged rock close to an Italian island, causing a 50-metre gash in her hull. She partially capsized a short distance off the shore. Of the 4,229 persons on board the vessel…