Asked by Lord Berkeley To ask Her Majesty’s
Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of
the international safety regulations and procedures laid down in
the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea to
ensure the safe evacuation of ships carrying more than 5,000
passengers and crew....Request free
trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have
made of the effectiveness of the international safety
regulations and procedures laid down in the International
Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea to ensure the safe
evacuation of ships carrying more than 5,000 passengers and
crew.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport (Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon) (Con)
My Lords, assessments of the safety regime for shipping are
undertaken by the International Maritime Organization’s
Maritime Safety Committee. The particular issue of large
passenger ship evacuation was the subject of significant
additional work following the loss of the “Costa
Concordia”, and regulations relating to passenger safety
drills were subsequently adopted internationally.
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(Lab)
I am grateful to the Minister for that reply, but if
something happens to a cruise ship of, say, 10,000
people—passengers and crew—in the middle of the Atlantic,
Antarctic or the Arctic, where ships go more these days,
and there is a need for an evacuation even if the ship
remains upright, and people are able to get into life rafts
without panicking, what happens then? He did not answer the
Question about whether there had been any full-scale trials
of such a scenario. Will he urge the IMO to get on and do a
trial such as this to see what happens? My fear is that
there will be wholesale panic.
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I am sure I speak for everyone in your Lordships’ House
when I say that we hope that such an occasion does not
occur. Importantly, to get to the crux of what the noble
Lord is asking, the UK has been not just working very
closely with the IMO—the organisation that leads activities
in this field—but showing leadership to improve the
importance of safety. SOLAS chapter 3 in particular makes
provision for passenger vessels to undertake drills on a
weekly basis—and, following the “Costa Concordia” accident,
passengers must undertake safety drills to familiarise
themselves directly with evacuation procedures to address
the sort of scenario the noble Lord illustrates.
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(LD)
Does the Minister know whether consideration has been given
to language issues? There will be people of all
nationalities on these ships. Communications between the
crew and passengers are vital. Do these form a part of any
tests that take place?
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In light of representations that we ourselves have made, the
noble Lord is right to raise the issue of languages, because
many who travel may not be familiar with some languages. In
that regard the IMO is looking to introduce specific measures
to ensure that evacuation drills and emergency procedures
reflect the languages of the people who are travelling.
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(CB)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that 19 ships capable of
carrying more than 4,000 passengers are on order at the
moment for delivery by 2020? The noble Lord on the Liberal
Democrat Benches asked about crew. Is it not vital that crew
training is given absolute priority in view of the problems
that he mentioned with languages? In the “Costa Concordia”
accident, I gather that the crew could not understand
emergency instructions in the official language of the ship.
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The noble Lord raises an important point. I partly addressed
it in my previous answer, but he is of course right. When we
look across modes of travel, we see that in aviation, for
example, all evacuation and emergency procedures on a flight
heading for a particular destination in a particular country
are explained in a particular language. I suggest that there
is a bigger challenge for cruise ships, which often stop at
different destinations—but language and crew training related
to it are nevertheless important.
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(Con)
What is the attraction of taking a cruise with 4,999 of your
closest friends?
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Unlike the noble Lord, I cannot claim to have 4,999 close
friends. There are many noble friends in your Lordships’
House, but, even if we went on a cruise together, I am not
sure that we would quite reach that standard.
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(Lab)
My Lords, can I clarify the Government’s position on this
question? Bearing in mind the increasing number of British
citizens who go on cruises, can the Minister—I do not think
that he has done it so far—give an assurance that the
Government are satisfied that the existing safety of life at
sea regulations on evacuation in an emergency and the
associated crew training and practice drill procedures
reflect the reality of today of much larger cruise liners
than before carrying many thousands of passengers and crew?
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I can give that assurance. We are working on several streams;
first, looking at adapting existing fleets in accordance with
the challenges and the way in which the industry operates;
secondly, looking at crew training; and, thirdly, ensuring
that emergency and evacuation procedures reflect the language
of those travelling on those ships. So, yes, we are
satisfied, but one can never be overly prepared for such
emergencies. When such incidents happen, the real test will
be of the stability of the ship, the operation of the safety
regulations and how well crew members are versed in them, and
how well educated and informed are the travelling public.
Work is going on to improve that. I suggest to the noble Lord
that it should be an ever-evolving exercise, so we look to
embrace the latest technologies and address the concerns
which noble Lords are right to raise.
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(CB)
My Lords, I declare an interest as a past chairman of the
RNLI. The International Maritime Rescue Federation has been
looking at the vexed subject of how one retrieves hundreds if
not thousands of people from a ship which has been evacuated
on to the sea. Has it made any sensible progress and is it
still working well with the IMO?
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The noble and gallant Lord is right to raise this issue. My
understanding is that work has been done to ensure the
survivability of ships for a longer time and that, if an
evacuation is necessary, it can be conducted. In the case of
the “Costa Concordia”, the ship was stable for up to an hour.
Had the crew and captain been equipped in an appropriate
manner, perhaps more lives could have been saved. Another
area that we are looking at is the stability of ships, to
allow them to return to port safely without the need for
evacuation. The noble and gallant Lord asked how the two
organisations were working together. I shall write to him on
that.
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(Con)
My Lords, has consideration been given to a minimum thickness
of hull for these vast cruise ships, particularly those going
to Antarctica?
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Again, given the technical nature of that question, I will
write to my noble friend. I assure him that on all types of
ships, including the roll-on, roll-off ferries widely used by
the travelling public, the issue of safety is extremely
important. It is important to consider the nature, building
and construction of ships—but, as we have said, we must also
inform the travelling public on safety procedures and ensure
that the crew, too, is well informed.
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(Lab)
My Lords, the training of officers and men is crucially
important and British seamen are probably the best in the
world. However, we have a huge shortage. In the Falklands, 73
merchant ships were called up, all using British crew. Have
the Government ascertained the minimum number of merchant
seamen this nation requires for crisis and emergency?
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On a maritime Question, I knew I was missing something—and
now I know what that was. I will write to the noble Lord in
that respect.
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