2023-06-24 14:00:16
In 1914, two years after the collapse of the Titanicthe world’s leading maritime nations met in London and approved the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the most important treatise on ship and passenger safety. With the regulations, revised on several occasions over the decades, they have been created unified rules on, for example, the number of lifeboats, emergency signals, communications and the duty to attend. Now, later of the catastrophic implosion of Titan, numerous experts believe the time has come to make one similar effort to ensure the regulation of manned submarines and, especially, those who, like the malaguanada ship of OceanGate, do in international waters and in the deep ocean.
The regulatory quagmire OceanGate moved into is well known. It did not seek certification or approval by independent entities which are common in the industry. This lack of validation on whether it met the basic safety parameters in its engineering is a fact that for years it had prompted cautionary warnings from experts. And it also causes doubts, because usually these classifications are a requirement to obtain insurance.
When operating in the area where the Titanic sank, which is not there neither under the maritime jurisdiction of the United States nor that of Canada, and being the submersible transported to the high seas by a ship, the usual rules do not apply. The Washington state-based company did not have to submit to the regulations that would have affected it if it dived in the territorial waters of either of these two countries, the ship was not to submit like most submarines and all submarines to a strict security process and reviews every time they set sail and dock and it was also not required to carry a flag.
“There is literally no requirement, because there is no one out there who applies it”, he explained Sal Mercogliano, a former merchant marine and maritime historian at Campbell University in North Carolina, who in an interview with ‘New York’ magazine recalled that they call the ocean for something deep “the malefactor sea”.
Mercogliano creu que both the US and Canada are likely to adopt more regulations now, as explained to ‘The Washington Post’. And think that theInternational Maritime Organization (IMO), the specialized agency of the United Nationscould take steps to try to require subs like the Titan to register like other ships, instead of being treated like until now, as cargo on ships that transport them
The expert assures that, although OceanGate and the founder and CEO Stockton Rush (who piloted the imploded submarine) put innovation ahead of any other consideration, “The submarine industry wants rules, wants standards». And it has been supported by the comparison with the aviation industry, remembering how at the beginning of the 20th century, after accidents, governments and associations came together to pass laws “that today make you get on a plane and fly at 9,000 meters without thinking”. “There will come a time when you won’t think twice about getting into a submarine and descending 4,000 meters”, Mercogliano said, «but we haven’t gotten to that yet”.
Human and economic cost
George Rutherglen, a professor of maritime law at the University of Virginia, also said he would be surprised if the Titan tragedy was not responded to with more regulation, especially given the resources deployed in the search and rescue operation.
“I would be surprised if any incident with all these costs, both in terms of deaths due to negligence and the expensive rescue, did not lead to some initiatives”, he assured in statements to the Associated Press, in which he considered that there could be a drive to pass legislation in Congress and that the US could adopt measures such as preventing boats carrying unregulated vessels from docking at their ports.
Somehowever, are shown skeptics with the fact that there will be changes. Forrest Booth, a lawyer from San Francisco, recalled that “the IMO has no authority”. And he has opined that if states try to adopt an international deep ocean treaty, they will run into the resistance of nations that, for example, they want mine in the depths. “I don’t think much of substance will happen when the media attention is reduced to this case”, he told AP.
End of deep sea tourism and the Titanic
The Titan tragedy has also led to voices calling for one break in tourism in the depths in general and in the one of them visits to the remains of the Titanic in particular Among these is that of Michael Guillen, a scientist who almost died when his submarine was stuck near the Titanic, and who, to defend this position, has reminded CNN that “the sea is dangerous. It’s not a playground.”
He has also requested this stoppage Charles Haas, el president de la Titanic International Society, a US charity established in 1989 to preserve the history of the iconic shipwreck. “It’s time for cto seriously consider whether manned voyages on the Titanic should end for safety reasons’ Haas assured in a statement. “There is relatively little left to collect the remains, and the role of manned submersibles can be assigned to autonomous unmanned vehicleslike those who made a detailed, three-dimensional, high-resolution map of the wreckage and debris field last year.”
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“The intensive inspection before deep dive service should be required by international regulation”, has defended Haas. “Just as the Titanic taught the world safety lessons, so should the loss of the Titan.”
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