Abstract
This article brings to attention learning from the failure - blackout, loss of propulsion and near grounding - of Viking Sky cruise ship which occurred in Hustadvika, Norway, in March 2019. Failures and accidents in the cruise ship industry attract the global media and can severely impact reputation and business performance of companies and authorities involved. A system approach investigation and analysis - CAST - was employed with the aim to maximize learning from the Viking Sky’s failure through a systematic approach and to contribute to failure reduction in the cruise ship industry. Three main recommendations emerged from this study: an overview of the accident or failure precursors and resilience indicators; safety recommendations for other cruise ships; lessons and strategies of actions for the increased cruise operations in the Arctic and Antarctic areas. It was found that several accident or failure precursors, for example, a low level of lubricating oil, the failure of a turbocharger, an inoperative large diesel generator, lack of functionality for safety equipment due to bad weather, and others precursors contributed to failure and highly critical situation encountered by Viking Sky in Hustadvika. Resilience indicators such as the master’s immediate decision to launch mayday, the crew preparedness, and the way how the emergency situation was handled were found to have positive impacts on critical situation of Viking Sky. This article highlights also that adaptations and improvement of standards and regulations for harsh environmental conditions can play an important role in prevention of marine accidents. Furthermore, for a better understanding of correlation between environmental loads and their effects on machinery systems, digital solutions such as digital twin for condition monitoring of cruise ships in the Polar areas are seen as possible innovative solutions yet to be fully implemented in the marine industry.
Highlights
The cruise industry can generate important revenues, and for instance, in 2018, the worldwide revenues from the cruise industry reached to the amount of 47 billion US dollars [1]
The present study focuses on learning from the failure of the Viking Sky cruise ship
In this study the failure - blackout, loss of propulsion and near grounding situation in stormy water of Hustadvika encountered by the Viking Sky cruise ship in March 2019 - was investigated and analyzed through a system investigation and analysis approach (CAST) in order to contribute to a systematic and comprehensive learning
Summary
The cruise industry can generate important revenues, and for instance, in 2018, the worldwide revenues from the cruise industry reached to the amount of 47 billion US dollars [1]. As the machinery failure is on top of the accidents in the shipping industry, the condition monitoring has been seen as important in order to improve system reliability and to reduce unexpected shutdowns. The present study focuses on learning from the failure of the Viking Sky cruise ship. Despite a great media attention given to the blackout and loss of propulsion of the Viking Sky, very few research studies have been dedicated to this near disaster. A study by Rufibach [17] discussed the legal aspects which emerged after the near disaster of Viking Sky. Updates and changes are required about the legal framework of the International Code for Ships Operating in the Polar Waters. Towards contributing to a systematic and comprehensive learning from the failure of the Viking Sky cruise ship, an accident analysis research approach - CAST - was applied. In following sections the CAST research method is first detailed and is applied for the analysis of the Viking Sky failure
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