Fire on Board the Liberian Passenger Ship Ecstasy, Miami, Florida ...

Factual Information 32 Marine Accident ReportCarnival Cruise Lines presently runs 16 passenger vessels on pleasure cruises thatlast 3 to 16 days and that include itineraries to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Panama, Mexico,Hawaii, and Alaska. At the time of the accident, the operating company regularly ran theEcstasy on 3- and 4-day round-trip cruises from the Port of Miami. The 4-day cruisesdeparted on Monday and had stopovers at Key West and Cozumel, Mexico. The 3-daycruises left on Friday and sailed to Nassau, Bahamas, where it docked for 1 day beforereturning.International Safety RequirementsAt the 1994 SOLAS Conference, the IMO General Assembly adopted a resolutionentitled “The International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and forPollution Prevention,” known, in brief, as the ISM Code, to encourage the continuousimprovement of safety management skills in the maritime industry.The ISM Code became effective on July 1, 1998, for all passenger ships and for thefollowing vessel types of 500 gross tonnage and over: oil tankers, chemical tankers, gascarriers, bulk carriers, and high speed cargo ships. 28The ISM Code requires a company 29 to establish and maintain a documented SMSthat, among other things, meets the following safety management objectives:1. Provides for safe practices in ship operation and a safe working environment;2. Establishes safeguards against all identifiable risks; and3. Continuously improves safety management skills of personnel ashore andaboard vessels, including preparing for emergencies related both to safety andenvironmental protection.The ISM Code establishes six functional requirements for an SMS:• Policies for ensuring safety and protecting the environment;• Instructions and procedures for ensuring safe vessel operation andenvironmental protection in compliance with international and domestic laws;• Defined levels of authority and lines of communications between and amongshipboard and shoreside personnel; 30• Procedures for reporting accidents and nonconformities;• Procedures for preparing for and responding to emergency situations; and28The rules for all other cargo ships and MODUs of 500 gross tonnage and over enter into effect onJuly 1, 2002.29 The ISM Code defines company, in part, as “the owner of the ship or any other organization orperson…who has assumed responsibility for operation of the ship from the shipowner and who, on assumingsuch responsibility, has agreed to take over all the duties and responsibility imposed by the Code.”30 The ISM code stipulates that a company’s SMS clearly define and document the master’sresponsibilities and emphasize his authority in its SMS.