The Grande America in the spotlight
Grande America, press release n°3
List and summary description of all the Grande America’s deficiencies as identified by the Port State inspectors since 2010 (pdf). In particular, recurring deficiencies concerning the fire-fighting plans or equipments and non-compliances with the MARPOL Convention for the prevention of pollution at sea should be noted.
The Grande America, practically garbage herself, was carrying waste and was known to empty her garbage cans into the sea.
South of Brittany: Grande America ablaze
The container ship and car carrier had left Hamburg and was heading for Casablanca, then Dakar (Senegal), Conakry (Guinea), and Freetown (Sierra Leone). Afterwards, the ship was to carry on towards Brazil. The Grande America is 214 meters long and she flies the Italian flag. Logically, the ship is filled with used cars and a variety of second-hand vehicles, trailers, public work machinery, waste to be recycled, trailers loaded with tires, and containers with dangerous material to be used by West African major development projects or mines.
From the Titanic to the Costa Concordia – 2012
Table of Contents
I- The passenger ship has become a cruise destination
II – Cruise ships with more than 2,500 passengers
III – Disaster first, regulation later
Rules and exceptions
Muster points
The evacuation
Fire, fire, fire
Crash, crash, crash
The see-saw effect
Running aground
Cruise ship or floating hospital
The target
VI – The Titanic and the Gigantic by Joseph Conrad, sailor and author
I-The passenger ship has become a cruise destination
The traditional passenger ship used to travel from one point to another in a straight line. In off-peak periods, some were assigned to pleasure cruises in tourist regions (the Canary Islands, Aegean Sea, the Norwegian Fjords, the Caribbean, for example), but these services were only accessible to a well-off elite who had the time and means to take such trips.
