After 72 hours without power,lights, air conditioning or hot food, the disabled Costa Allegra was towed safely to the island of Mahe in the Seychelles this morning. The fire in the engine room was extinguished by the ship’s force and despite being inconvenienced and made uncomfortable, no passengers or crew were injured. Nevertheless, the fire and blackout on a Costa Lines ship so soon after the tragic sinking of the Costa Concordia is raising questions whether the Costa brand has been irreparably damaged.
Costa is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, the largest cruise operator in the world. Today the Associated Press reported what had been widely rumored: “Industry experts said Costa’s survival after 60 years in the passenger ship business could depend on the company changing its name or getting a bailout from its parent, U.S.-based Carnival Corp.”
Others are more confident that Costa will survive. “No, not the end for Costa, which has (been) operating passenger ships for over 60 years,” Douglas Ward, author of the 2012 Berlitz Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships, said in an email from a ship off the Australian coast. “But the relentless media spotlight may dilute the brand and perhaps the number of ships in fleet.”
Can Italy’s Costa brand survive the recent shipwreck, fire?
The blackout on the Costa Allegra came as hearings in Washington focused of cruise safety and heard testimony from survivors of the Costa Concordia sinking. Also, “leaked documents from a probe into the Costa Concordia disaster contain allegations that officers were seen snorting cocaine and getting drunk on two of the operator’s ships.” Costa may be facing rougher seas ahead.
Don’t all ships have emergency generators remote from the engine room to cater for the likes of a disabled engine room. If not why not.
Yes, ships have emergency generators but they tend to be relatively small as compare to the overall power requirements of a cruise ship. Emergency generators will provide emergency lighting, power to communications, steering, power to the fire pumps and other sorts of emergency systems but otherwise the ship will be blacked out. Air conditioning, cabin lights, power to the galley stoves are not on the emergency power system.