Ferries we can rely upon

ANOTHER VIEW

We won't officially know until Friday what the Transport Select Committee is recommending in the way of improved safety for roll-on roll- off (ro-ro) ferries. But as one of the few who survived the Estonia disaster last year, I can only reiterate that the basic design of these ships is flawed and higher safety standards are taking too long to bring about.

The Herald of Free Enterprise and the Estonia both sank extremely rapidly. The fundamental problem is that the vast open car decks become unstable as soon as water gets in. In heavy seas the water sloshes around and can very quickly cause a capsize. The Government has said it is pressing the International Maritime Organisation to fit all ro-ro ferries with transverse bulkheads (barriers that divide up the car decks), but I think it should unilaterally impose these standards on ferry companies.

It was because the Estonia became unstable so quickly that most people couldn't escape. I was in the cafeteria asleep on a bench at 1am when the ship developed a heavy list. Furniture was thrown around. I realised there was a severe problem and made my way to the exit. I couldn't see any rafts or jackets and was getting more and more distraught. Around me, many people were in shock, unable to move. I took my boots off and put on extra clothing, knowing I was going in the water.

I'd had no cause to think about safety beforehand, not least because the Herald disaster had been put down to human error, when the bow doors weren't properly closed. It never occurred to me that a ship nearly twice the size of the Herald, plying the Baltic, could have its front end torn off by the waves. A collision is more likely. But whichever way, if water gets into the car deck, the ship goes down - very quickly.

Under present safety standards it is supposed to take half an hour to evacuate a ferry. But there's no way you can get 2,000 people off in rough seas in half an hour. And once the ship goes over, you can't escape easily. Stairwells become impossible to negotiate.

On the Estonia, the lifeboats were useless: half of them were lost immediately the ship went over. And you couldn't launch the rest from on top. Of 830 passenger and 159 crew on the Estonia that night, about 250 made it off the ship. Not all those survived - 10 of the 16 on my upturned liferaft died from hypothermia.

There is of course still disagreement about whether ferries should have bow doors at all: all the Baltic ferries had their bow visors welded up and became rear-loading after the Estonia sank.

Until ferry design changes, what I'd really like is for the public to be able to know which ferries do have the safer bulkheads. The shipping companies are very reluctant to give out information. If there was a register, at least the public would be able to choose who to travel with.

The writer was the sole British survivor of the 'Estonia' ferry disaster on 28 September 1994.