The perilous state of the Costa Concordia was reached all too quickly (Image: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features)

The design of cruise ships carrying many thousands of passengers needs urgent re-examination after the rapid and fatal capsizing of the liner Costa Concordia on 13 January. So says Nautilus International, a maritime trade union which was already campaigning for such outsize leisure vessels to be made safer.

The Costa Concordia – carrying 4200 passengers and crew – was holed by a rock outcrop just off the island of Giglio, Italy, at 9.42 pm local time. Just 45 minutes later it was listing at an angle too steep for lifeboats to be lowered from its port side. At least 11 people have died and others are still missing.

It shouldn’t have happened how it did, says Nautilus International spokesman Tony Minns. The design of watertight compartments should be such that such vessels remain stable for much longer, perhaps by having more hull beneath the water or by installing systems that pump water to help rebalance a listing ship.


“The regulators need to look at the construction of these vast cruise ships so they are better designed for survivability – so there’s a reasonable chance of getting all the passengers and crew off of the ship safely,” says Minns.

Shallow draught

Commercial concerns are likely to oppose significant changes, he concedes. To access picturesque quaysides without having to load passengers into boats, cruise ships have a very shallow draught. The 13-storey Costa Concordia had only 8 metres of its hull underwater.

“That draught currently limits options for providing compartments that can provide reserve stability,” says Minns. “The reason for the shallow draught and high superstructure is commercial. The cruise market is such that passengers prefer to go ashore on a quayside rather than be anchored off the shore and be ferried ashore.

The height of cruise ships is a problem, too, says Minns. “It is known in sea trials that these vessels are what we call ‘tender’ in stability terms – they are very stable but have a quick rate of roll when the rudder is moved a few degrees.” In other words, they are quite sensitive to being upset.

“So the regulators need to look very, very carefully at balancing commercial needs with the needs in the event of damage to the watertight integrity – as we had on Friday.”

Mark Staunton-Lambert, technical director of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects in London, agrees that the rapid capsizing of Costa Concordia needs explaining. “A modern design should not heel over as far as it did until quite a long time later,” he says.