BIGGER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER!

I am certainly not alone in being shocked at the disaster that occurred to the cruise ship Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy this week.  Television stations across the world that I have been seeing from China to the U.S. to the U.K., have all given maximum coverage to the happening.  Not only the disaster itself has shocked people, but also some of the events surrounding it.

Various investigations into the disaster are currently taking place so no final comment can be made about these matters until those investigations are complete.  Nevertheless one can express thoughts.

Going on a cruise has become extremely popular in recent years but because of that, I cannot but wonder if the cruise industry itself has been sufficiently aware - or concerned - about some of these hazards that can occur, such as we saw this week in Italy with the Costa Concordia.  Or is it a case that the desire for bigger profit margins is guiding their thoughts as in so many things today, thus blocking out some very important matters.

I have travelled quite extensively by ship over the years and enjoyed it immensely - apart from one time when we came across a storm in the Atlantic and I decided I was all but dead!

I sailed from London to Wellington in New Zealand through the Panama Canal on the Shaw Saville ship the MV Corinthic.  I sailed from Sydney, Australia to Naples in Italy on the Lloyd Triestino ship the MV Neptunia through the Suez Canal.  I sailed from London to Jamaica in the West Indies on one of the Jamaica Banana Producers cargo/passenger ships.  All of these vessels were ships that looked like ships - not floating apartment buildings.  I cruised around the Greek Islands on the MV Oceanic.  The Neptunia and the Oceanic (which subsequently sank in a storm off South Africa) were smallish passenger liners that held 400 passengers (the Neptunia) and 600 passengers (the Oceanic)  The other ships were cargo/passenger ships and so carried far fewer passengers.  However, in each case the ships were of a size that gave the feeling of a personal touch in almost every way.  Passengers got to know most of the other passengers, if in some cases only slighty. That made the experience so much more enjoyable, but it is something that is not possble when there are 3,200 passengers aboard.

When I first went to the United States and was staying in the New York area, I applied for and got a contract with the Cunard Line to be a Chaplain on their cruises out of New York.   I was appointed to the liner MV Franconia which was one of the smaller Cunard passenger liners on the trans-Atlantic route, but a great favourite with regular passengers because if its elegance, comfort and the excellent service on board.  In winter months the Franconia was taken off the trans-Atlantic route and acted as a cruise ship between New York and Bermuda.  She was a beautiful ship that looked like a ship with open decks which circled the ship so passengers could walk for exercise.  She did not look like one of the resorts in Las Vegas. I thoroughly enjoyed my time on that ship.  I seem to remember she carried only 1,200 passengers - a very manageable number especially when we came into port and passengers were all disembarking to go on tours wherever.

Alas, those good ships were in time retired when flying became the norm for travel and enormous monstrosities were built and launched specifically for the cruise trade.  I have never sailed on any of these monsters and I have no wish to do so, but I have seen many in Florida and at times when they would dock in Honolulu.  I find it quite scary just looking at them and I have often wondered how long it takes to get all the passengers off and on to coaches for tours when there are 3,200 people with whom they have to cope.  These goliaths do not look like ships. They stand a big number of storeys high and in many cases are so big they have difficulty in manoeuvering when trying to dock and undock at some of the smaller ports where they call - as was the case with the Costa Concordia we have been told.

One cannot help but wonder if building a ship as big as the Costa Concordia which was 114,000 tons and carried 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew is really either a viable or sensible project. I wonder if the cruise business is loosing its sense of proportion or concern for safety in favour of possible higher profits.

Has anyone understood, or even thought that in the event of an emergency, quickly and safely evacuating a total of some 4,200 people (passengers plus crew) from the ship is almost an impossibility.  Imagine the scenario of such an accident as the one we saw with the Costa Concordia this week occurring some distance from land.  There would be many more dead and missing persons than we had this time.

Bigger is not always better, and in my humble opinion the cruise industry should seriously consider the wisdom of building these goliath ships in the hope of increasing their profit margin.  They should think of their clients and crew and their safety.  It has been announced that the fact that the Costa Concordia is no longer in service will reduce the Costa Cruise Line profits for the year by over $85-million.  Does that not send a message to these cruise lines that they ought to rethink the path they should take where these goliaths are concerned?  Bigger is not always better.