Cite? I was under the impression that this was fixed after the Titanic.
I was reading
this news article. It states:
The Concordia was not able to deploy all its lifeboats, leaving passengers jumping into the sea. Interestingly, maritime law only requires lifeboat capacity for 75% of passengers – 50% in traditional boats hanging off the side, 25% in inflatables on board – a fact that might see fewer orderly queues at the next evacuation.
However, maybe that's sloppy research being reported? I found one informative
slide at International Maritime Organization website that compares the safety standards when the Titanic sank to current standards.
That slide indicates that a passenger ship must have enough life
boats for 100% of passengers plus enough life
rafts for 25%.
Furthermore, the IMO explains the safety philosophy of regulations for ever larger cruise ships going forward
here. The ship itself should be the primary lifeboat in case of disaster.
What became clear from the initial work was that concern over large passenger-ship safety would be centred on the difficulty in safely evacuating some passengers, such as the elderly and injured, from lifeboats to rescue vessels. It is clear that the difficulties would not end, even with successful evacuation. Thousands of people, unfamiliar with ships and the sea, crowded into lifeboats and liferafts, would present a unique search-and-rescue challenge.
Fire also represents a particular vulnerability for large cruise ships. Every passenger is a potential ignition source and the hotel services have an inherent risk.
The MSC has agreed that future large passenger ships should be designed for improved survivability based on the time-honoured principle that "a ship is its own best lifeboat".
This approach envisages that passengers and crew should normally be able to evacuate to a safe haven on board and stay there. In addition, this envisages that a ship should always be able to proceed to port at a minimum safe speed.
It reminds me of the fire safety philosophy of one of the newer mega-skyscrapers. I forget if it was the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan (an impressive view from the top!) or one of the buildings in Shanghai. Anyway, that building has fire-resistant floors interspersed throughout the building where occupants will shelter inside in the event of fire, instead of trying to evacuate the building. Instead of walking down dozens or even a hundred floors to reach safety from fire, they just need to move a few floors to reach shelter. I'm not sure if that is a fire code or just applied to that one building. Makes a whole lot of sense to me, though.
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