Fabio Croccolo
Marine industry professionals convened in Rome to consider the crucial issue of Ro-Ro safety. Marine industry professionals convened in Rome to consider the crucial issue of Ro-Ro safety. RINA Services in cooperation with Norwegian Hull Club and Interferry, were the supporting parties of the Ro-Ro Safety Seminar on 14 January 2016.
Ro-Ro safety has been bought into sharp focus following the high level of casualties resulting from recent incidents. Case studies, presented at the seminar, fostered by RINA Services, Interferry and Norwegian Hull Club, prompted discussion focused on the lessons that can be drawn from these disasters. Construction, design criteria, operation and maintenance, manning and charter agreements, all came under scrutiny.
These topics have all been contributing factors in accidents that have occurred on board Ro-Ro ships. The results of casualty investigations into recent incidents on Italian Cruise Ships was highlighted in a presentation from Fabio Croccolo, Directorate General for Railway and Marine Investigations’ (DIGIFEMA), part of the Italian Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport.
Research presented by Ole Jorgen Eikanger from the Norwegian Hull Club demonstrated that fires and explosions have compromised Ro-Ro safety. Car/Ro-Ro ferries have seen a significant increase in fire/explosion claims in recent years. Between 2011 and 2012, car/Ro-Ro vessels, made 0.9% of all fire/explosion claims, the highest claim by a vessel type. This sharply increased between 2013 and 2014, with car/Ro-Ro vessels making 1.5% of all fire/explosion claims.
This steep rise ensured fires and explosions were the topic of conversation at the Ro-Ro Safety Seminar. Darren Johnston from Interferry highlighted operational best practice guidelines for open Ro-Ro deck fire safety. In addressing this issue he emphasised the importance of the human factor: having trained and competent personnel, with the appropriate technical knowledge and skills that allow them to react quickly and professionally in a stressful environment is invaluable to a company, and significantly reduces risk should an incident occur.
RINA Services’ Head of Innovation, Marine, Andrea Cogliolo, made a presentation on a crucial issue for the marine industry, asset integrity management; an issue directly affected Ro-Ro safety. Cogliolo emphasised the importance of new rules for asset integrity management as a route to accident prevention. These rules ensure that the correct balance between explosion prevention requirements and fire detection and extinction requirements is met.
New technologies in vehicles also directly impact Ro-Ro safety. As technology evolves and innovative new ways of powering vehicles are developed, the marine industry needs to be aware of potential dangers from new types of cargo on board Ro-Ro vessels, including hybrid and electric cars and LNG-fuelled trucks.
As the world leading classification body for the ferry sector, with a share of 23% of the current total fleet in terms of GT, RINA Services knows that classification rules need to continually adapt to provide the best possible standards for Ro-Ro safety, which sit side by side with increasing asset integrity management for companies in the marine industry.
RINA Services S.p.A. is the RINA company active in classification, certification, inspection and testing services.
RINA is a multi-national group which delivers verification, certification, conformity assessment, marine classification, environmental enhancement, product testing, site and vendor supervision, training and engineering consultancy across a wide range of industries and services. RINA operates through a network of companies covering Marine, Energy, Infrastructures & Construction, Transport & Logistics, Food & Agriculture, Environment & Sustainability, Finance & Public Institutions and Business Governance. With a turnover of over 330 million Euros in 2014, over 2, 750 employees, and 163 offices in 60 countries worldwide, RINA is recognized as an authoritative member of key international organizations and an important contributor to the development of new legislative standards. www.rina.org
