THE MARINE Casualty Investigation Board has said cruise operators should ensure that people hiring craft are "fully conversant" with all aspects of control and manoeuvring vessels, writes Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent.
It was commenting on its investigation into the crash of an Emerald Star Line cruise vessel into a jetty at Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, which holed the vessel’s hull and resulted in one passenger sustaining back injuries.
The Camlin Star set off from Portumna, Co Galway, on April 6th, 2007, with eight people on board. The report says that on April 9th, the crew attempted a change-over from cabin control to bridge control at an “inappropriate time”, when the vessel was too close to the jetty.
The report says training appears to have been insufficient, particularly in the use of critical equipment by those hiring the craft. It says the Emerald Star check list should “specifically highlight the procedure for changing from bridge control to cabin control and vice versa”.