Increasing the Safety of Modern Passenger Ships: A Comprehensive Approach for Designing Safe Shipboard Integrated Electrical Power Systems

Over the past decades, the growth of international cruise tourism has been constant. The forecasts made by the Ships and Maritime Equipment Association indicates an annual growth rate of about 7%, leading to the triplication of global cruise passengers in the future (from 19 million passengers in 2010 to more than 54 million in 2035). To cover the future market needs, roughly six or eight new cruise ship buildings per year are planned until 2031, along with an increase in ship size (up to 8,000 persons accommodated onboard). These two facts have led to a growing interest in the passengers' safety, which has been addressed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) in 2000, with the launch of an initiative for adequate international safety regulation for large passenger ships. The first issue that emerged from such an initiative was the difficulty in safely evacuating passengers toward lifeboats during emergencies (in particular, during a fire or flooding). The solution proposed by the MSC requires that future passenger ships be designed to increase their intrinsic survivability, exploiting the concept that the ship is its own best lifeboat (thus avoiding abandoning the ship as much as possible). Such a solution was formalized in December 2006 through a package of amendments to regulations dedicated to large passenger ships and published in the 82nd session of the MSC, i.e., the Resolution MSC.216(82), commonly known as safe return to port regulations (SRtP).