Safety and Security

Christine Duffy, CEO of the Cruise Lines International Asociation (CLIA) published an open letter on February 10 assuring the public of the industry's outstanding safety record and outlining some of the measures that the cruise industry has taken since the deadly Costa Concordia accident ...

The global cruise industry has announced a new emergency drill policy requiring mandatory muster for embarking passengers prior to departure from port. The new policy follows the industry's announcement on January 27 of a Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review in response to the Costa Concordia incident..The Cruise Lines International Association, European Cruise ...

Bournemouth, U.K., based Neptune Maritime Security says it has "received information via credible channels that the vessel, MV FREE GODDESS (IMO 9107045), has been successfully hijacked by Somali pirates."FREE GODDESS is shown on the fleet list of Athens headquartered, NASDAQ listed Free Seas, Inc.(NASD:FREES)  as a 1995-built, 22,051 dwt handy size bulker trading on ...

NATO has issued an alert saying that a merchant vessel was attacked today and is suspected hijacked. At 1438 UTC today the vessel was in position 13 32 N 058 36 E. Vessels are advised to exercise extreme caution when navigating within 100 nautical miles of the position given in the report and maintain maximum CPA with any ship acting suspiciously. ...

The 9/11 Act requirement that 100 percent of all U.S.-bound cargo containers be scanned is probably never going to be met. Meantime, foreign ports are set to get a blanket two year extension of the target date for such scanning, pushing it out to July 2014.A new GAO report ...

The impact of the Costa Concordia tragedy is being felt across the cruise industry and not just by Costa Crociere and its parent Carnival Corporation. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE, OSE: RCL) today reported fourth quarter and full year 2011 results. The company also provided an initial outlook for 2012 that said that bookings had been hit by the Costa Concordia tragedy ...

Resolve Maritime Academy and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. report that plans are underway for new simulation-based training programs to enhance safety at sea for the cruise line's personnel and guests.In 2011, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) selected Resolve to be its exclusive provider of all simulator-based training courses, and formalized arrangements to joi ...

With Dubai becoming an increasingly popular cruise ship destination, Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) has announced a crack down on cruise ship safety. The award-winning Dubai Cruise Terminal experienced a 30 percent growth in tourist traffic between 2009 and 2010 that continued in 2011, with 135 cruise vessel calls and 375,000 passengers visiting, according to the Departmen ...