| Egypt. Design flaws did not lead to ferry tragedy |
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| Saturday, 04 February 2006 | |
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Marian Martin Whatever the reason for the tragic sinking of the Al Salam Boccaccio 98, it was not design flaws. The theories presently being put forward that the vessel was a sister ship to the ill fated Herald of Free Enterprise and, therefore, might have sunk for a similar reason are simply not true. The Al Salam Boccaccio was not a RoRo, with bow doors, nor was it ever a Townsend Thoresen ferry. It was not a sister ship to the Herald of Free Enterprise, nor to the Pride of Al Salam 95 that sank in 2005, after a cargo vessel had ripped a large hole in its side. The Pride of Al Salam 95 was a roll on roll off ferry with an opening bow, as shown on the left of the above picture. It started life as the Townsend Thoresen’s Free Enterprise VI and was a sister ship to the Free Enterprise VII. The Al Salam Boccaccio 98 was a passenger ferry, with a stern opening car deck and a conventional bow (above right). She started life as the Tirrenia di Navigazione’s Boccaccio and had five sister ships: Carducci; Leopardi; Manzoni; Petrarca and Pascoli. The newly built Boccaccio was a 131 metre long vessel with a beam of 20 metres and a passenger capacity of 500. In that guise, she sailed between Italy and Tunisia until 1991, when she underwent a major transformation at the respected Industrie Navali Meccaniche Affini, in La Spezia, Italy. The work undertaken was the conversion to a vessel with more decks and a much larger passenger capacity of 1300. To compensate for the additional superstructure, the hull was fitted with lateral sponsons, which increased the beam to 23.6 metres. The Boccaccio then returned to service on the Tunisian run, until 1997, when it was laid up. In January 1999, the Boccaccio was sold to El Salam, who renamed it Al Salam Boccaccio 98 and used it as a pilgrim ferry until July 2001, when it was leased it to Cotunav, for one month’s use on the Genoa to Tunisia service. In 2002, it was leased to Marini Travels, to provide a service between Savona, in Italy, and Tangiers and, in 2004, First Beirut Lines leased it to use on its Beirut to Ancona, in Italy, service. It was not until last year that the Al Salam Boccaccio 98, was used by El Salam on its Red Sea ferry service so, until a few months ago, the vessel had to meet European safety standards. Whatever, the cause of the sinking it was not the design problems that have been discussed to date and it seems unlikely that it could have deteriorated, in a few months, to the point where it was unsafe. |
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