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Substandard ferries can continue to use British ports until the end
of the century, shipping minister Patrick McLoughlin has admitted. In a
letter written at the end of last month to his Labour counterpart, Joan
Walley, who had written to him about safety in the Channel, McLoughlin says
that ‘good progress has been made’.

All new roll-on roll-off ferries have to comply with a new set of safety
standards that were agreed by the International Maritime Organization in
the 1990 revision of the convention on the Safety of Life at Sea – known
as SOLAS ’90.

These higher standards of stability were introduced as a direct result
of the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster of 1987, in which 193 people died.
They should help to prevent ferries capsizing rapidly. The disaster inquiry
was told how the Herald turned over in about 90 seconds.

At the time SOLAS ’90 was introduced the British government said that
the standards would be applied to the existing fleet of ferries.

In his letter, the shipping minister discloses a lengthy timetable for
the adoption of the measures that were agreed by the IMO. ‘Those ferries
which need upgrading should be modified over a phased period of time dealing
first with the ferries having the lowest standard of survivability,’ he
says.

‘The starting date of the first phase should be October 1994 and the
phase-in period should not exceed five years.’ Although the minister says
in his letter that the government will work with ferry owners to minimise
this phase-in period.

Maurice de Rohan, of the Herald Families Association, which represents
those who lost relatives in the Zeebrugge disaster, said: ‘I’m appalled
by this timetable.’ He said the government’s research had shown the ferries
were prone to capsize quickly. The fact that they ‘could be sailing almost
to the end of the century defies belief’.

The timetable still has to be approved by a full IMO meeting next year.
The same meeting is due to consider tougher rules for high speed catamarans.
A catamaran service between Britain and France began in July.

New Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ exclusively revealed that an aerospace safety test, known
as failure mode effect analysis, was not required for catamarans – even
though it was for the hovercraft they replaced (This Week, 6 July). The
test is widely thought to be applicable to catamarans and the new IMO rules
will require its introduction – but not until at least 1994.

In his letter McLoughlin says the department’s marine surveyors had
imposed ‘operational limitations’ on the catamarans, known as Seacats, to
‘reduce the risk to passengers to a level which is equivalent to that attained
on conventional ferries.’

New Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ understands that the Seacats will not be allowed to run
in seas where the wave height exceeds 3.5 metres – the same limitation that
is applied to the hovercraft. The Australian designers of the Seacats originally
anticipated that they would be permitted to sail in far rougher seas.

In her letter, Walley asks the minister to state whether he has plans
to introduce the safety test for Seacats unilaterally, ahead of any international
agreement. The minister ducked the question, however – replying obliquely
that the new IMO rules would assure ‘an adequate standard of safety’.