We have been saying for years that the cruise industry maintains one of the best public relations operations of any industry in the world. Accidents are often under reported, if they are reported at all. Passengers go missing, are raped and sexually assaulted by cruise line employees, and are injured in large numbers. But, these incidents rarely make the headlines.

However, after the recent Concordia cruise ship accident, there may be ano opportunity for much needed oversight to be imposed on the industry. Today a piece by Reuters news agency points out some of the issues with regulating the industry until now.

First the story quotes a statement by the European Council saying “During the past two decades, cruise lines have maintained the best safety record in the travel industry.”

However, as teh stroy goes on to point out, this is a very difficult assertion to verify, given the lack of adequate reporting by the cruise ship industry to date.

“Research by Reuters has revealed, however, that patchy safety data and poor accident reporting standards make it difficult to verify how safe the industry really is and impossible for members of the public to easily compare the relative safety standards of different operators,” the article says

The article goes on to list different ways the cruise industry is under-regulated, including lack of minimum stafffing levels, and regulations which are “full of holes”

Particularly shocking is that, according to the article “The IMO database lists 38 incidents involving passenger ships since 2005 in which more than 60 people died.”

The hope is that finally the international governing community will finally wake up and make the necessary changes to ensure ships are operating in a safe manner.

Primary Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/25/us-italy-ship-regulation-idUSTRE80N1OD20120125