VENICE — Costa Cruises has implemented measures aimed at enhancing passenger safety, a result of the loss of 32 lives following the grounding of the Costa Concordia.
The policies, grouped into seven categories, were announced following the christening of the Costa Fascinosa.
During a press conference and interview aboard the Fascinosa last week, Costa President Gianni Onorato said, "We tried to be self-critical of internal procedures [such as] how much time we donated to safety," and focused on guest safety and bridge-management procedures.
Costa is now requiring that the muster drill be completed before the ship leaves the dock, a policy adopted by CLIA lines in the wake of the Concordia accident.
At the muster station, the life-jacket instructions are given in six languages, while at least one of the crew members at each station demonstrates how to use the life jackets. To be more visible, crew members are in brilliant yellow life jackets, while passengers don the traditional orange jackets.
Passengers also must hand to a crew member at the muster station a red, plastic card that is embedded with a chip. Costa will use the system to track attendance. Passengers who do not attend will receive a letter in their cabin, instructing them to attend a drill the next morning.
Costa has enhanced its website with a "Here for You" section that recounts Costa's training and safety initiatives and the life jacket video. Soon, Costa plans to publish profiles of all the line's captains and executive officers.
The new policies also affirm a relatively new bridge-management model. Since 2010, Onorato said, officers for all Carnival Corp. brands have been attending weeklong classes at a facility in the Netherlands to learn how to be "more collegial" at decision-making on the bridge.
"The captain is to become more of an admiral, still supervising" but expecting other officers on the bridge — as many as four — "to take part in any maneuver by thinking out loud … to collaborate," Onorato said.
Another area is the formal oversight of the ship navigation plan.
"For the past three months, we have developed a very sophisticated system to monitor, in real time, the route of all the ships in the Costa fleet, checking the actual position against the plan filed by the captain before departure," he said.
"In case of a deviation, an alarm sounds at headquarters, and a call is immediately made to the ship."
That monitoring system is already in place.
Conversely, the main office can contact a ship to suggest it change course.
Speaking briefly of the Concordia incident, Onorato said, "We expect in July that the evidence found in the ship's black box [its onboard recorder] will be made public, starting a new phase of the criminal case."
He said it is likely the trial of Concordia Capt. Francesco Schettino could begin by December.