Early Cruise Contrast

 The Port of Halifax welcomed its first cruise ship of the season on April 6 with the arrival of MSC Poesia. The ship went on to Sydney and Charlottetown and is now en route to Quebec City. Its passage took it through the best area to see the April 8 solar eclipse.

Its visit was a very early start to a season that usually peaks in September and October. The ship's arrival and departure times were not conducive to photography, so this photo from its first visit in 2010 will have to do.

The ship was built in 2008 at the Aker yard  in St-Nazaire, France, and measures 93,330 gross tons and can accommodate up to 3,605 passengers, and a crew of 1027. Its one of four ships of her class in the MSC Cruises fleet. 

 

By contrast the second cruise ship arrival of the season, on April 10, was the Viking Polaris. A Polar 6 class expedition type luxury cruise ship of 30,114 gt its passenger capacity is 378, with  256 crew, although small by cruise ship standards, it one of the larger cruise ships to visit Antarctic waters.

 

It pulled into Pier 23 and while alongside it launched several of its Zodiacs, possibly for training.

 

The workboat Tidal Runner also attended with a scow likely to take off refuse.

.

 

Cruisin' for a bruisin'

1. MSC Poesia arriving Halifax 2011-10-10.

The cruise ship industry is in for a serious bruising over the coming days as more information comes to light about the sinking of the Costa Concordia in Italy on January 13.

Coupled with the recent grounding of MSC Poesia in Freeport, Bahamas (where there were no deaths or serious injuries) in fourteen feet of water, there will have to be some serious introspection about passenger safety.

[MSC Poesia's first visit to Halifax: http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2010/09/poetry-in-motion.html ]

What have we really learned since the sinking of the Titanic (100 years ago), Empress of Ireland (1914), Lusitania (1915), Andrea Doria (1956) and countless others?

1. When ships sink they do not do so on an even keel - if they list to port or starboard to any significant degree, half the lifeboats will not launch at all, and the others will be too far from the ship's side or the ship will roll over on them.

2. If the ship sinks by the bow or stern most of the lifeboats will be useless.

3. Ships are built to withstand flooding of some compartments, but they are never built to withstand long rips in the side of the hull. There is more reserve buoyancy in modern ships, but a big ship at any significant speed, cannot stop quickly, and is thus likely to rip out a lot of its length.

4. Lifeboat drills are never sufficient to prepare passengers for safe evacuation. In the panic of an emergency many things will go wrong (see above) many people will not know what to do. Crew members, even if highly trained (and not all are), will be severely hampered. Language issues will exacerbate the problem.

5. More than a thousand died in the Empress of Ireland and 1,500 from Titanic. More lifeboats were added, davits were changed to gravity type. Even so 1,198 died in the Lusitania, because they could not use most of the lifeboats, due to the ship's trim.

Improvements have been made continuously, and loss of life in those numbers has not occurred in many years, on well found, first class ships. Navigational aids such as radar and satellite navigation, radio and telephone have improved both safety and communication. Personal flotation devices are also vastly superior. Lifeboats themselves are more durable and fire and weather resistant. But that is no reason for complacency.

The issues are still the same: lifeboats and human error. Most accidents are now caused by human error, and when a serious accident occurs, those in danger must rely on lifeboats or take the chance of staying aboard until rescued by others. This last option is often the best, but who really knows that at the time? Jumping overboard is rarely a wise option.

What is the solution?

We will hear many suggestions in the coming weeks-some crazy, some sensible, but one thing is certain, the cruise lines will be under the microscope. Ship designers too, but in reality it is the international safety standards organizations that should be dealing with this on a world scale.

.

Poetry in Motion?

1. MSC Poesia has rounded George's Island and is lining up to berth at pier 20.

2. Halifax harbour greeter and mascot Theodore Too accompanied the ship inbound and is now turing back to her dock - mission accomplished.

MSC Poesia made her inaugural call in Halifax today. This is the ship's fist season on the New England/ Eastern Canada cruise circuit, and she is providing a number of cruises out of New York and Quebec City between now and the end of October.

She will make two more calls in Halifax before heading to the Caribbean for the winter. She will also visit Boston, Newport, Bar Harbor, Charlottetown, Corner Brook and Sydney this fall.

The ship was built in 2008 at the Aker yard in St-Nazaire, France, and measures 93,330 gross tons. She can accommodate up to 3,605 passengers, and is one of four ships of her class in the MSC Cruises fleet. MSC now has eleven ships and is one of the fastest growing cruise lines. The parent company Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) is also a large container ship operator.

MSC Poesia arrived from Quebec City, where she also made an inaugural call. In order to give her passengers a more comfortable ride, she did some slow steaming, arriving off Halifax around 1 pm for her pilot. She will sail at 11 pm tonight.