Costa Crociere news conference casts light on events onboard Costa Concordia on Friday

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Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

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 13^th 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.

Costa Concordia seen constructive total loss, insurance claim may exceed $500 million

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Written by Christer Gorschelnik Christer Gorschelnik

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 16 January 2012 16 January 2012

Costa Concordia, the 114,500 gross ton cruise ship that capsized after running aground on the west coast of Italy, is likely to be declared constructive total loss, an Italian broker and industry experts say.

They believe insurance claim to be as high or higher than $500 million. Costa Crociere, which owns the ship,  has not confirmed the fate of the ship yet.

Carnival Corporation & plc, which owns Costa Crociere, said this morning that Costa Concordia will be out of service perhaps into the next financial year of the group that will start on 1 December 2012 and loss of revenue from grounding of the vessel on Friday may reach $95 million.

“A damage assessment review of the vessel is currently being undertaken to determine how long it will be out of service. The vessel is expected to be out of service for the remainder of our current fiscal year if not longer,” Carnival said.

An investigation was opened into the accident. Dutch salvage experts have been called in to assess options for removing the ship, with 2,380 tons of fuel needing to be removed first. Removal of the fuel will be done by Smit Internationale, who have offered to perform the salvage operation.