How can Miami’s center of excellence keep paradise safe?

By PA1 Anastasia Burns, PADET Miami Beach 

More than 10,000 vessels arrive in Sector Miami’s three ports each year, nearly double the total arriving in ports monitored by any other Coast Guard prevention office or marine safety office in the nation. However, the cruise industry is the real bread and butter of Sector Miami’s Prevention Office.

 Miami is the Mecca of cruise ships, hosting more of the massive vessels than any other port in America. With its tropical climate, white sand beaches, busy shopping districts and proximity to the Caribbean, one can only expect Miami to draw the crowds from these floating communities.

But because Miami is the cruise ship capital of the world, it also draws another type of crowd - cruise ship inspectors from the Coast Guard.

Although cruise ships have visited and been inspected in other ports around the country for many years, many inspectors from other units had little cruise ship inspection experience in the late ‘80s. Because of that inexperience, cruise ship inspections were not always conducted consistently. Inspections in Miami were considered to be very strict, while inspections at other ports were viewed as less stringent. Consequently, in the early ‘90s, there was an increase in ships scheduling their inspections in smaller ports, even if they rarely visited those ports on voyages. Roughly two-thirds of the cruise ship population migrated to other ports for their inspections, despite embarking their passengers in Miami.

Industry representatives complained, saying they didn’t know what to expect from each port’s cruise ship inspectors. Miami’s inspectors responded by taking the lead  to form the “Cruise Ship Center of Excellence,” where inspection techniques would be taught to marine safety inspectors, first district-wide, and then nationwide.

“The purpose [of the CCE] was to standardize the inspection process,” said Lt. Cmdr. George Zeitler, chief of the Center of Excellence Inspection School.

Zeitler said the school started in-house in 1993 as a two-day class in Miami for new personnel at then-MSO Miami, but it was occasionally attended by inspectors throughout the Seventh District. Other units began asking for the training, and the school became a road show with two or three Miami-based inspectors traveling to major units. The “teachers” scheduled about five classes per year around inspections for new cruise ships while fulfilling their normal duties and responsibilities in Miami. The school finally returned to Miami full-time in late 1994, under the new CCE title, where it now hosts three classes each year.

“It’s a great program, and it’s made the industry safety standards well-recognized,” said Greg Purdy, director of Safety, Security and Environment for Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. “It’s a nice reassurance to say our ships have been inspected by the Coast Guard and are in compliance. When the passengers hear that, it commands a certain amount of respect.”

Classes have been redesigned as a result of the cruise shipbuilding boom of the late ‘90s. The school takes an average of 20 students per six-day class. The sixth day is, according to Zeitler, “a practical, final exam,” in which the students complete their own cruise ship inspection as a team, “testing” a volunteer cruise ship in the Port of Miami.

“The students really seem to enjoy the hands-on experience,” said Zeitler. “The key point we try to make is for inspectors to recognize that not all cruise ships are required to meet every regulation. If you don’t see something that you feel is required, there may be a reason it’s not there – often due to when the vessel was built.”

In his office, Zeitler’s shelves are lined with books and binders detailing cruise ship regulations. He reached for a certain stack of books and held out a set of volumes roughly five inches thick.

“These are the regulations for 2004,” said Zeitler. “This means that if you don’t find an item on a ship built before 2004, the ship may be built to previous regulation standards so that it’s grandfathered into the current set.”

Purdy, a former Coast Guardsman himself, has been working in the cruise line industry for the last five years, and occasionally, he is a guest speaker at the school.

“Having that course in Miami is critical,” said Purdy. “You just can’t understand these [changing regulations] by flipping through the manuals. It helps put things in perspective for the students.”

The colossal vessels have been growing in recent years with no end in sight, and Zeitler knows their size will continue to be a challenge. The 13-year veteran inspector explained, “We’re not getting any more people in to help, and we’re not getting any more time to complete the inspections, so it does take a little extra time management.”

The growing size of cruise ships also means that ship owners are trying to one-up each other aesthetically. Zeitler said that the glamour, like potted plants or blending wallpaper might obscure a fire extinguisher or vent, so inspectors need to rely on their experience.

“The glitz and glamour of new ships catches your eye, said Zeitler. "You need to learn the systems first in order to help you look past all that. When you get experienced, you notice the absence of things rather than the specifics of those that are there.”

CCE must also contend with the issues associated with an abundance of junior inspectors. Where the average student had been doing inspections for three or four tours, most students now have less than two years experience. One student had only seven months experience in the inspection world. “The program was designed for senior marine inspectors,” said Zeitler, “but like the length of the class, the program has evolved to accommodate the new needs of the Coast Guard.”

The school is just one part of the Center of Excellence.

In January 2004, Sector Miami inspectors scheduled an inspection for a cruise ship that had not been to the U.S. in several years. Once aboard, the inspectors found that upgrades on the vessel, which dated back to the 1960’s, had not been done.

They found deficiencies in many areas from holes in the main firefighting system, to inoperable fire doors, to davits that wouldn’t launch liferafts.

They eventually detained the vessel that night, after an inspection lasting more than seven hours The inspection resumed the following day for an additional 10 hours before the vessel was allowed to sail. All this happened just days before yet another, higher profile inspection of a vessel from the same company -- the Queen Mary II.

This case is a snapshot of what Zeitler and his crew address daily. A major goal for them is putting the importance of the inspection and the drills in perspective for the ship's captain.

“We need to drive home two points: the crew needs to be well-trained, and we want them to keep in mind that 80 to 85 percent of the cruise ship staff is made up of non-professional mariners, but most of the evacuation process depends on their ability to perform their jobs.” Zeitler explained, "You need to create a process to account for the human factors.”

Zeitler cited an example where, during a fire on board the Explorer of the Seas in February 2003, a well-trained midnight-shift cleaning crew put out a fire that could have spread to other portions of the ship. He makes sure his inspectors treat these crewmen with respect, and that the captains of the cruise ships test their crews in new and different ways, “holding drills in unusual places, like the theater or the crew’s cabins.”

“It’s important to make sure [the crewmen] know what they’re supposed to do because one person in the crew may be responsible for saving 250 people.”

Some crews go through six months of drills to ensure they can perform the tasks needed.

“You get sworn at, and you get grief, but I have to sleep at night," said Zeitler. "If I made a good faith effort to make sure the ship was in compliance, then I’m happy, and I know those passengers are as safe as they can be.”

Prevention is key for both the Coast Guard and the cruise ship industry. Over the years, the industry has learned to police itself. Stan Deno, director of operations for the International Counsel of Cruise Lines in Arlington, Va., said the industry values the relationship with the Coast Guard.

“We do have a formal partnership with the Coast Guard, and for us, it gives us an organized way of discussing things on a higher plane,” said Deno. “It solves problems before they become major issues and it saves both organizations time and money. We resolve problems before either side has to go into the long process of development and compliance.”

Deno mentioned a report put out by the Coast Guard in 1995 which stated that the cruise ship industry was one of the safest means of transportation around.

“This is ten years later, and still, there has not been one passenger death in 20-plus years due to a vessel casualty," said Deno. "[Our vessels are] carrying 10 to 12 million passengers per year for the last 20 years - do the math.”

The record is impressive by any standards. Deno attributes the success to the relationship between the ICCL and the Coast Guard, and he said that the industry keeps their safety standards well above that required by the Coast Guard.

“The quarterly inspections were going to be dropped to six months, and the loudest complaining was from the industry,” said Deno. “ We like having the Coast Guard come aboard. It keeps our crew on their toes, and it validates to the passengers that we’re operating safely. If a guest doesn’t have a safe vacation or there aren't assurances that their vacation will be safe, we won’t be in business very long,” said Deno.

With the cruise ship industry getting bigger and faster every day, Zeitler and his crew have their hands full, but with the school training new inspectors and the help from the industry partnerships, they are constantly making sure the playing field level is level. Zeitler summed up his view of the challenges before him.

“Ninety-eight percent of the people we encounter understand you’re there to make things safer for them and their passengers," said Zeitler. Some captains think they know best and no one’s going to tell them how to run their vessels. Sometimes it’s a matter of tying a ship to a dock, or enforcing penalties, but when the passengers get under way, they’ll be safe, and to the best of my ability, that ship will be safe.”

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