Ferry operators challenged to go public over safety

Owners of roll on, roll off ferries should be forced to publish precise details on the safety of their ships and their survivability in the case of accidents, the Royal Academy of Engineering said yesterday.

The academy also considers that the safety improvements drawn up following the 1987 Herald of Free Enterprise disaster are being introduced too slowly.

The academy, which has examined safety on ferries in the light of last year's Estonia disaster which cost over 900 lives, says that shipowners should prepare detailed analyses for their ships which would then allow the public to compare the relative safety of each ship.

In a briefing document issued yesterday, the academy, which claims to be the UK's "pre-eminent engineering organisation" said: "In line with the Government's aim of promoting Consumer Choice, the owners of ro-ro ships operating from UK ports should be required to publish a summary of this analysis for individual ships"

effectively creating a league table of safety.

The shipowners' body, the Chamber of Shipping, responded by arguing that this type of safety assessment was already being undertaken.

Walter Welch, the chamber's director of marine services, said: "The safety committee of the International Maritime Organisation, which is preparing a report for April in the light of the sinking of the Estonia, is looking at the use of this type of safety assessment."

It says that the risks of ro-ro ferries when water gets on to the car deck are well known, and as little as 30 centimetres of water is enough to cause the ship to list and sink.

The academy also says that ships should be able to survive at least 30 minutes once water had got on to the deck and stresses.

"Engineering solutions are available, and cost or operational disadvantages must not be allowed to stand in the way of this objective," the academy said.

The ferry operators have consistently rejected the main way of achieving this, which is the introduction of transverse bulkheads, since it would slow down loading and unloading of cars.

The academy argues that since world-wide measures take too long to introduce, the UK should join together with its European neighbours to introduce higher standards of safety more rapidly.