THEN the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge in 1987, killing 193 people, not many naval architects were surprised; the disaster realised their worst fears. Large roll-on roll-off (roro) ferries are uniquely vulnerable: they can capsize rapidly in the calmest water without any warning.
In April this year at a conference of naval architects in London, Patrick McLoughlin, Britain’s shipping minister, acknowledged publicly for the first time that higher standards of stability are needed for roro ferries. Kenneth Rawson, a senior naval architect, agreed: ‘We have held our breath for three years and no loss through flooding of another roro has occurred in European waters, although my word, we have come mighty close to it.’ Last August, the Earl of Granville struck rocks and was holed as it entered Cherbourg; four months later, a Panamanian-flagged ship ripped a 20-metre hole in the side of the Hamburg, which was bound for Harwich (‘Naval architects fear more disasters’, This Week, 5 May).
Three days after Rawson’s warning the luck run out. On 28 April, in calm seas off the coast of Sicily, the Espresso Trapani flipped over in less than 15 minutes. The roro ferry was carrying 34 passengers and a crew of 18; 15 people died. Investigators believe that the vessel made a sharp turn as it was approaching the Sicilian port of Trapani, and that a lorry loaded with marble slabs shifted, making the ship unstable.
It is a frighteningly familiar tale. Just a little water on the car deck – as shallow as 25 millimetres, heard the inquiry into the capsizing of the Herald…
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