Review philosophy of carrying lifeboats on ships operating close to land

It is the view of this Court that the time has now come when the whole philosophy of carrying lifeboats on ships which are never far from land should be reviewed by the International Maritime Organisation. This is a topic which requires much careful consideration before any International agreement is likely to be reached. The Court would, however, draw attention to three particular aspects of this question, two of which relate specifically to Ro-Ro ferries. (1) All ferries have heavily constructed belting which protrudes from the ship’s side. Although they have farings in way of the boat lowering positions the guard rails can catch the gunwales of a lifeboat, particularly if there is any sea running, and cause it to roll violently. (2) The means of release gives rise to difficulty and sometimes to moments of danger, as for example if both ends are not released simultaneously, with the result that the boat is “hung up” at one end or the other. The heavy blocks are a danger to occupants of a boat as they swing to and fro on the ends of their falls. (3) There was some evidence that the height of the embarkation deck should be as low as possible. There are practical reasons for this, but in an emergency it seems to be against human instincts to go to a lower deck than the one a person is on. Passengers are more likely to want to move to a higher deck. There are obvious advantages in drastically reducing the number of lifeboats carried and thereby saving space and reducing weight. In their place a large number of liferafts could be carried with advantage. The Court recommends that the Department should give a lead in initiating discussions.