Politicians say that ro-Tio'ferries are not safe-, but will ferry
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the increased First the lights went out. Then there was a mighty crash as the ferry toi5pled on to its side. Then there was silence save for the terrifying sound of rushing water —millions of gallons of surging ice cold sea water—gushing through the impenetrable blackness. As the sea rapidly laid claim to his cabin, driver Roger Broomfield struggled to the door and out into the passage. By swimming frantically, and blindly feeling his way in the dark, he somehow stumbled on to a corridor that took him to safety above the water line. It was nothing short of a miracle. The ferry was the Herold of Free Enterprise, which claimed 193 lives when it sank off Zeebrugge with its bow doors open on 6 March 1987. Broomfield, a truck driver from Poole, Dorset, had been returning with chemical waste products from West Germany. He later discovered he was the only passenger to have escaped from below the ship's water line. "Some people call it luck but I also know I would not have sur vived if I could not swim as well as I can. The memories will always remain with me," he says. Broomfield's co-driver, Tim Turner, was on a higher level of the ship when it went over. His life was saved when a win dow was smashed and a thrown in for stranded pas sengers to climb out on to the side of the vessel.
Others were not so lucky. Many truck drivers were among the tragic victims of the Herald of Free Enterprise; they were simply 9oing about their lobs. It war. , it, a disaster which struck horror into the heart p of 0 millions of travellers , and focused aftentiein on the safety of ro-ro feriies. 0.
1 In the years since the disaster, progress in Ferry design has been tortuously slow, with operators rebuffing allegations that their vessels are inherently unsafe and the Government seemingly reluctant to impose mandatory costly changes on the industry. But matters came to a head in July when a damning House of Commons Transport Select Committee report demanded that ferry operators should be forced to make vessels more stable.
MPs on the committee said that safety standards should be strider to ensure that ferries remain upright for at least two hours after an accident to allow evacuation.
Super ferries
Current regulations state that a ship should stay up For 30 minutes. Committee members questioned whether this was realistic as the new super ferries can carry more than 2,000 people spread over several decks.
They concluded: "Given that on any voyage many will be children, elderly or disabled, half an hour seems very optimistic." MPs recommended that ferries should be given star ratings for safety to help travellers choose which one they wanted to sail on. The dangers of water accessing the large open car decks on modern ferries were highlighted again in September last year with the sinking of the Estonia in the Baltic Sea, with the loss of hundereds of lives.
Ferry companies have been accused of stalling and failing to act on safety measures because they have not been ordered to by the Government or the international Maritime Organisation, part of the United Nations. But ferry operators insist they cannot make radical and costly changes to design until they have been given a clear mandate on what is needed.
They are currently waiting for the results of a report to be submitted to the IMO in November. This report, ordered after the sinking of the Estonia, is expected to carry wide-ranging recommendations on how stability on ro-ro ferries can be improved. Sue Kirk, a spokeswoman for Steno Sea lin k, says: "Once we are told by the IMO what we need to do then we can get on and do it. "Whatever standard the UK Government wants us to meet we will meet. We expect the IMO to endorse change and we will welcome any recommendations."
But operators also feel that the same safety benefits might be achieved through ensuring ships are properly run, rather than making expensive design changes which could cut down carrying capacity and increase fares.
"The way you operate your ships is just as important," insists Kirk. 'With the Herald of Free Enterprise, it was totally due to human error."
P & 0 spokesman Dave Wilson says: 'When there is a consensus among the experts then we will listen to them."
The Iwo main systems for adding stability are widely thought to be buoyancy aids, known as sponsons, or transverse bulkheads, which would be installed on car decks to stop the build-up of water. A model being tested Both options are likely to prove prohibitively expensive and come at a time when ferry companies are in cut-throat competition with Eurotunnel's Le Shuttle service for both passenger and commercial traffic.
According to the Transport Select Committee, the sort of safety measures needed could be paid for simply by adding El to the price of a passenger ticket.
But major international hauliers, who pay far more than holidaymakers, fear that ferry rates would soar even if operators only passed on part of the increased costs to customers; some have said they would switch routes to keep costs down. Geoffrey Sims, chairman of the Road Haulage Association's 200-strong International Group, is convinced that any proposal to raise fares would get a frosty reception from hauliers—particularly with the market as competitive as it is. "Ferries have had to cut prices and I doubt whether they would be able to impose any increase, regardless of the cost to them," he says. Unlike fares for tourists, freight rates are almost always commercially confidential. Buying power is everything and the bigger the demand, the bigger the discount. But with fares accounting for at least 25% of hauliers' overall operating costs, even minor increases could prove hugely unpopular, Sims says. "The Channel Tunnel would take business away from the ferries on a large scale and is doing so already; Eurotunnel is claiming 35% of the market." Stoke-based British European Transport, along with its French and Belgian divisions, sends around 30,000 vehicles a year across the Channel.
General manager Tony Clemence says the company would not be happy if it was asked to cough up more for fares and believes that safety features should be financed by the ferry operators. And John Cadwallader, boss of Shropshire-based firm G and R Cadwallader, which books about 3,000 crossings each year, also doubts if hauliers will tolerate ferry rate increases: "They will probably have to absorb it themselves. They are not going to be able to pass it on." What seems inconceivable is that ferry companies will be allowed to continue building ro-ro vessels to the current design. Hardened survivors of the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster continue to travel on ferries. But like Tim Turner, their thoughts are never far from Zeebrugge. "I'm not too bad on them when it's daylight and the sea is flat. But every time they roll in rough sea my pulse starts to go up."
TI by Pat Hagan