COSTA ALLEGRA Tow Changes Direction — Updated
Update: (08:30hrs GMT 3/1/12) COSTA ALLEGRA arrives in Port Victoria, over half the passengers have elected to remain on the island for the rest of their stay at the company’s expense.
Update: (20:00hrs GMT 2/29/12) A Seychelles Government official said that when the Seychelles tugs met up with the Costa Allegra on Tuesday, a “conversation” took place to see the fishing vessel step aside and the faster tugs put in place. “The discussion went on for quite a while to no avail.” The fishing vessel F/V TREVIGNON continues to tow the COSTA ALLEGRA and now strong currents have slowed progress, arrival not expected before 9AM local time Mahe. Planes have been readied to take passengers to Rome etc.
Update: (21:00hrs GMT 2/28/12) Two tugs have now reached COSTA ALLEGRA and will tow her the rest of the way to the Seychelles (arriving late Wednesday, early Thursday local time)
The COSTA ALLEGRA will now not be towed to nearer but tiny island of Desroches, it was announced today. Instead the Italian cruise ship, assisted by a French ocean-going trawler F/V TREVIGNON, will proceed to Mahé, the main island of the Seychelles and is expected to arrive on Thursday. Desroches, with limited facilities, only about 50 inhabitants and no easy port access, was deemed unsuitable for off-loading the passengers. Mahé is a distance of some 155 miles.
The fire in the ship’s generator room on Monday left it without power, air-conditioning or cooking facilities and limited radio contact. Costa said that helicopters would ensure the continuous supply of food and other items to the stranded passengers and crew.
Two tugs are approaching the COSTA ALLEGRA and will assume the tow when they arrive later today.
Of the 636 passengers and 413 crew on board, 135 are Italians and 127 French, along with nearly 100 Austrians, 90 Swiss and 31 Britons.
While the ship could be vulnerable to attacks by Somali pirates, the presence on board of nine armed members of the Italian navy’s anti-pirate unit and a circling government plane are providing security and communications with some of the navy’s anti-pirate unit on board the fishing vessel for further protection.
For initial story and more details on COSTA ALLEGRA history click here.
Martin Cox
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Many thanks for posting these reports Martin and the first photo I have seen of the ship under tow.
Poor Costa, the brand has certainly taken another pummelling and this will definitely Costa packet!
Over the years, a number of Costa and former-Costa liners have succumbed to fire.
Peter
Hopefully not from the frying pan into the fire. Good the passengers and crew have protection.
What unfortunate timing, but it makes for a wonderful photo. Trawler towing a container, er, cruise ship.
Glad of SOLAS in helping to prevent minor fires turning into major conflagrations…
Why do they not design these vessels to be fail safe. Costa Concordia with its all-in-one engine room – a longitudinal bulkhead would have left half of the propulsion/generation intact and usable and helped to reduce the free surface effect. Similarly on this ship,if the generator room was divided they would have half of the kit still working.
It seems that now the fishing trawler is refusing to hand the ship over to sea going tugs. Why? Certainly the trawler is looking at the potential of a hefty bill, the farther he tows, the more he makes?
But how can the Costa line let this happen? I’m sure the trawler helped a lot at first, but now seems to have reached the end of its usefulness. Can the Costa company not order them off, and accept the tugs?
Is there something in maritime law that allows the trawler to refuse to hand the ship over?
With regards to no power available on the ship, do they no longer install auxiliary generators a few decks up as stand-by power for just this sort of situation? At one time, long ago, this was done. When did it stop?
I’m not talking enough generator capacity to power the whole ship, but enough to run some refrigeration, some lights, and allow for some use of domestic facilities.
All the eggs in one basket is seldom a good idea, IMO.
Mark D.
Very good questions Mark, I was surprised by this news that the tugs were reportedly unable to take over the tow. It is assumed that there is financial advantage to the trawler continuing on, and in a reuters report I read that Costa were denying that the COSTA ALLEGRA would have arrived in port any earlier with the help of the tugs. It would seem they do not wish to enter the argument. I would be interested to hear from anyone with knowledge of the potential legal situation in regards to the tow and who is legal in the drivers seat.
Is this not the law of the sea; whoever gets a line on board has the right to salvage money etc; sometimes ‘Lloyds open form’ is mentioned in such situations which will mean maximum possible payout for the assisting vessel. A fascinating subject in its own right; one thing for sure is that the Trawler will making tonnes more money than bringing fish home – some may say they have landed ‘quite a catch’ and no wonder they don’t want to cut her loose back into the sea!
Apparently it is well established international law of the sea that once the towed vessel in distress agrees to a tow, Lloyd’s Open Form, the towing vessel has rights of salvage which dollar amount will be decided by a judge after “the cure” (safe arrival) has taken place. The fishing vassal has managed to catch a very valuable prize!
The trawler wants his “bounty” for saving the ship. As long as he has his line on the ship and control of the ship he is recognized as the rightful salvager. And to him goes the rewards. Once he drops his tow line so to goes his claim to the rewards.
On a slightly less paranoid angle the ship was in a choppy sea with some winds. There might have been some argument not to mess with what was working because they were moving at 6k. Possibly the tugs could have added supplemental lines or as one media report said “the tugs were pushing.” LOL.
Ships do have emergency diesel generators. They are required to have as much by law. But those are there to light the emergency lights and I assume the communications systems get power off the generators too. But they are diesel generators and they only have so much time and so much capacity. They can not power the ship and all of its systems. The Costa Concordia’s lights as she was sinking were all from the generators. She lost power and propulsion with minutes of striking the rock.
From what I’ve read elsewhere, more than half the passengers have elected to spend the balance of their vacation time in the Seychelles with hotel costs and return air fare paid by Costa. Seems like reasonable treatment. The remainder, less than half, elected to be flown home over the next day or two.
We sailed on her from San Juan when she was “new” (The Costa Allegra and her sister ship, Costa Marina we’re built on the hulls of two former container ships I believe). It was a beautiful newbuild then, we had never seen anything quite like it. The glass wall at the stern in the main dining room, the portholes looking into the swimming pool from the bar below, and those circular lexan showers in the cabins we’re right out of Star Trek. I would love to see a “decked” article on this ship. It would be interesting to see how she’s fared all these years later.
As far as the incident, it seems to have played out well for the ship, crew and passengers. The fire suppression seems to have worked nominally, and maybe she won’t be out of service very long. Media played up the “pirate waters” aspect, and although she is certainly a fleetmate to the Concordia, the Allegra is not a “sistership” as reported in most articles.
I wish that the modern cruise ships were half as stylish as that trawler!
@E.F. Johnson: While waiting for a Decked! on the COSTA ALLEGRA, there is a quite delightful travel report from her, complete with many interior photographs, available at Hayne’s World: http://haynesworld-u-cdolly.blogspot.com/2012/01/costa-allegra-27th-november-2011-part-1.html.
The COSTA ALLEGRA and COSTA MARINA were indeed former container carriers, namely ANNIE JOHNSON and AXEL JOHNSON, respectively. Both were built in 1969 in Finland, so they are actually quite old ships. A third sister (MARGARET JOHNSON) was also slated for conversion into a cruise ship, but instead she was cannibalized for converting the engines of the REGENT STAR (ex-STATENDAM).
Kalle Id said:@E.F. Johnson: While waiting for a Decked! on the COSTA ALLEGRA, there is a quite delightful travel report from her, complete with many interior photographs, available at Hayne’s World: http://haynesworld-u-cdolly.blogspot.com/2012/01/costa-allegra-27th-november-2011-part-1.html.
Thanks! Looking good.
Well, now the old girl has character, having survived fire and the pirates.
Some nice photos of the very elegant Axel Johnson and sisters here:
http://www.faktaomfartyg.nu/axel_johnson_1969.htm
Interesting to see two of the vessels with the “Regent” names painted on.
An image of the container ship ANNIE JOHNSON long before she became the COSTA ALLEGRA http://maritimematters.com/2012/02/costa-allegra-drifting-following-fire/
-Martin
According to the USA Today online, Costa has announced that she will not return. She is to be sold, as is or for scrap.
If sold for scrap it will be a massive shame. I was planning a cruise on her for this summer (this was before the fire) as she seems to me the most appealing of all Costa ships. Of course the fact that she’s actually quite old and small by today’s standards does not do her any favours.
Hard to speculate but would the fire really have caused enough damage to warrant scrapping? She looked to be well-maintained and presuambly economical enough to be kept in service, with engines barely 20 years old. Perhaps this is really Carnival PR i.e. getting rid of old stock to try and secure the Costa brand as modern and safe.
A fascinating old girl surely with a few more years in her. I find the thought of an all-weather hull under foot to be very reassuring.
Sister ship Costa Marina moved on to a new life, maybe Costa Allegra follows? Yes, only 19 years new, and in great shape, it would seem a bit premature to send her packing.