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Preamble On the night of 27/28 September 1994, the ro-ro passenger ship MV Estonia sank in heavy seas in the Baltic Sea resulting in the loss of 852 lives, the largest civil catastrophe of the modern era; until the loss of the Egyptian ro-ro Ferry Al Salam Boccaccio ‘98. The enormity of the accident shook the foundations of the whole maritime community and has proven to be one of the milestones in reshaping maritime safety, a process that still continues. However, the results of the official investigation of the accident, published some 37 months after the accident, failed to provide a sound explanation of the cause and sequence of the sinking of MV Estonia, thus fuelling a debate across the whole spectrum of the maritime profession. This debate grew with criticisms ranging from scientific reasoning to conspiracies. Much has been written and said in the intervening 13 years but most in the form of questions rather than answers. This could not possibly continue. History has shown that society cannot tolerate such loss of life and will not stop until all questions have been answered. Anything less would simply not be enough! Research Study on the Sinking
Sequence of MV Estonia
Responding
to unrelenting pressure from the maritime community at large and in
particular the Swedish people, the Swedish Government, in 2006, assigned
VINNOVA (The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems) in its
capacity as the body responsible for the national Sea Safety Programme, to
commission a research project to study the sinking sequence of MV Estonia
with the view to get to the “bottom” of this accident. The
overall goal of the research study is to understand the sinking sequence and
explain the underlying causes of the loss of MV Estonia and hence derive
suitable recommendations on design and operation of ro-ro passenger vessels
in order to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. The results and impact are expected to
improve the understanding of the The SSPA Consortium
comprising ·
SSPA
Sweden AB in Gothenburg, Sweden (Co-ordinator) · SSRC (Ship Stability Research Centre) / Safety at Sea Ltd, Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde in Glasgow, UK; (Technical Co-ordinator) ·
MARIN (Maritime Research Institute ·
Department of Shipping and Marine Technology, The HSVA Consortium comprising ·
Hamburgische
Schiffbau Versuchsanstalt GmbH (Hamburg Ship Model Basin) in Hamburg, Germany,
(Co-ordinator) ·
Technical The research study combines a wealth of ship design, analytical modelling, computer simulation and experimentation expertise, deployed to scrutinize and review the available evidence, to a synthesise this into a loss hypotheses. The study was also to test these hypotheses through first-principles modelling studies and to finally demonstrate the established scenario of the loss through a physical experiment and through virtual modelling and simulation. Looking Back to Move Forward On 1 March 2007, a year will have passed since the launch of the research study during which period all available evidence has been centrally reviewed, loss scenarios proposed and ranked by an international panel of experts brought together for this purpose and an investigation launched using state-of-the-art tools and scientific rigour to pursue the truth in a systematic and transparent manner. All that has ever been said or done following the accident has been carefully considered and is thoroughly analysed before deciding on the next step forward. Moreover, a purposely set up website: http://www.safety-at-sea.co.uk/mvestonia invited any substantive information to be provided in written form for consideration in explaining the circumstances of the loss of the MV Estonia. All information provided is to be made available publicly through this site, or other media, after due scrutiny. This MV Estonia Workshop is a manifestation of the SSPA consortium’s intention to facilitate information exchange and to accommodate and promote healthy debate deriving from facts and scientific discovery. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all sponsors, collaborators, colleagues and friends who helped SSRC in the crafting of a safety path and a way forward to continuous safety enhancement in the maritime industry. Workshop Programme Court Senate, Chair: Dr Tom Allan Opening 08:30 – 09:30 Welcome Address: Professor
Opening Addresses: Minister
of State for Transport – Gunnel Färm, VINNOVA – SW Principal
of Principal
of Looking Back 09:30 – 10:00 Margus Kurm 10:00 – 10:30 Werner Hummel, Meyerwerft 10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break 11:00 – 11:30 Bertil Calamnius, AgnEf 11:30 – 12:00 John Graffman, VINNOVA Lunch 12:00 – 13:00 Looking
Forward 13:00
– 13:30 Petri Valanto, HSVA 13:30
– 14:00 Claes Källström and Björn Allenström, SSPA 14:00
– 14:30 Jan Blok, MARIN 14:30
– 15:00 Tea Break 15:00
– 15:30 Olle Rutgersson, Martin Schreuder, 15:30
– 16:00 Andrzej Jasionowski, SSRC Debate and
close 16:00
– 17:00 Tom Allan, Johan Franson, Markku Kanerva, Rolf Kjaer,
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