01_gennaio - Porto & diporto

English summaryCOSTA CONCORDIA - BEFORE AND AFTERThe tragedy of the Costa Concordia leaves allwho work at sea or with the sea deeply dismayed.I have been writing of the sea and its harboursfor more than 30 years and that permits me toexpress a number of considerations which, notknowing the causes of the disaster or how thetragedy evolved, are simply emotional. At the momentnothing is known for certain about the causeof the disaster and how events evolved thereafter.The only certainty is the pain of the deathsand for those still not found. However there isanother feeling of certainty, that the Costa Concordiamarks a moment of change from beforeto after. Because from now on I am sure discussionwill be not just about SOLAS and regulationsbut will affect the whole of the cruise industry andparticularly cruise ships. Attention will be given to safety systems, procedures, standards of quality and their applicationbut perhaps more importantly to the whole philosophy of the market and of ship management. Withoutdoubt a finger will be pointed at the building of ever bigger vessels carrying larger numbers of passengers. Obviouslyexperts study systems for the safety of such large numbers. But do these systems have limits? How did wecome to this point? Perfect procedures can be developed but do they hold up in the moments of stress and panicwhich an imminent tragedy can generate with 4/5 thousand people. We already have some indications derivingfrom huge petrol tankers which seemed to have no limit of size arriving at 300 or 400 thousand tons and 485metres long until finally arriving at the largest vessel ever built the 560 thousand ton Knock Nevis. At that point thebuilding of these giants stopped probably because of structural limitations rather like the giants of the air whichwould appear to be unable to handle more than 700/800 people in an extremely limited space.The number of life boats is a problem which has never been resolved. SOLAS sets out that the number of lifeboats must have a capacity equal to the total number of passengers and crew plus a margin of 25% of that total.But, as always happens, the ship lists and up to 50% of the life rafts cannot be launched. Therefore it is not aquestion of the quantity or quality of the life rafts but of the system which has remained unchanged and has beena grave problem since the Titanic.The Costa Concordia tragedy has also posed the question of the composition of the crew who are mainly “hotel”staff not speaking the language of the vessel, in this case Italian. In an emergency a communication problem canonly increase disorder and possibly panic. Should “safety at sea” regulations require a common language? Arethere regulations? Who should supervise their application? The whole “hotel” sector of the vessel needs to belooked at paying attention to opening the doors of the external cabins perhaps with a system for automatic unlockingfor all cabins at a certain level of emergency. It is certain that the management and construction of cruise shipsis bound to change after the Concordia.SEATEC 2012Seatec now in its 10 th edition is an Internationaltrade fair dedicated to technology, contractorsand designers for yachts and ships. This yearSeatec is to be held in Carrara together withCompotec a trade fair for composite materials.Green policy is the principal theme of the fairwith particular attention to sustainable productionand environment. Seatec also incorporatesAbitare il Mare which concentrates on designand life style connected with navigation in general.Compotec is the only fair in Italy for compositematerials which are used throughout industry.The Millenium Yacht Design Award 9 th Editionis to be awarded at Seatec.Fair exhibitors will compete for the Qualitec award for the categories of “technology” and “design”Ethos Media Group is holding a forum for Yacht & Cruise Design during the fair.The Italian Institute for Welding will hold a convention at the fair dedicated to “Instructions for Welding –Procedures,staff and regulations”. Seatec will also address nautical refitting.luglio 2011 - 63