Large Cruise Ship Table Top Exercise

(AK CruisEx 1999)

Scenario Large Cruise Ship Evacuation

Objectives The overall objectives are to improve emergency procedures, and expand the working relationships between all participants. Specific objectives include:
To clarify the role of Away Team Concept. To discuss the establishment of a joint response organization. To discuss the ability to accurately track passenger accountability. To identify areas for improvement for community preparation and involvement.

Ground Rules
The issue of cause will not be addressed. The situation happened. Deal with it. Treat this scenario as a real event. Respond in accordance with existing plans and procedures.

Tips for Participation

Participate openly. Asking questions and sharing thoughts is encouraged, as these will enhance the exercise experience. Issues and procedures flowing from each topic will be thoroughly discussed. For each section, discussion questions are provided to assist you in focusing your thoughts on the implications of information provided. The discussion will permit the exploration of policies, decisions and actions, as well as an examination of key issues. You will have an opportunity at the end of the meeting to identify issues that require additional work. Identify a group spokesperson to provide a brief on our findings concerning our stated objectives.

Initial Event
At approximately 0630 on August 27, a fire broke out in the engine room of the M/V CRUISE 99 as the result of an explosion. The vessel with 862 passengers and a crew of 429 was enroute to Juneau from Ketchikan, AK. At the time of the fire and explosion, the vessel was just entering the south entrance to Snow Pass in approximately position 56-15-03N, 132-58-38W. At approximately 0655, the vessel lost power at the north entrance to Snow Pass, and at 0725 drifted hard aground on the rocky shoals of Bushy Island. Low tide is approximately 0930 local. Winds light and variable. Seas calm. Refer to chart for locations, and tide and current printouts.

Topic 1: Focus Questions

What primary organizations will initially be involved in this response? Based on the information provided, what major notifications will be made? Are there notification checklists? At this time, what are your primary concerns? At this point, how will your response team be staffed and organized? Does your organization use the Incident Command System (ICS)? Where will your command post be located initially? Longer-term options? What information do you expect to be provided without asking for it?

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Topic 2: Scenario Update

Time: 1030 Fire: The engine room and small collateral fires in adjacent spaces continue to burn. Heavy smoke fills several portions of the ship, and prevents some passengers from reporting to their assigned boat stations. Injuries: Dozens of passengers suffer from smoke inhalation. Passengers have gathered in the boat deck. Many passengers left their staterooms without proper clothing and are now beginning to exhibit minor symptoms of hypothermia. Grounding : The vessel remains aground. The grounding ruptured 12 double bottom fuel, sludge, fresh water, ballast and void tanks. A small quantity of fuel oil escaped into the water. Assistance: The nearest cruise ship is 4 hours away. An Alaska State Ferry is currently moored at Wrangell, and scheduled to depart in one hour. The MSO Juneau Away Team has arrived on board via USCG H60. Weather: For the next 2-4 days it will be overcast with S SW winds at 15-20 kts.

Topic 2 - Focus Questions

The Away Team. What is the USCG Away Team? Who is on the team, and what is their jurisdiction, and authority? What assistance can this team provide? Should membership on Away Team be modified? What are industries concerns about the AWAY Team? Information Sharing. In your response organization, do you require the presence of USCG or industry representatives to operate efficiently? What positions are required? How will information and response planning be rapidly shared between all involved parties to avoid duplication of effort? Is this formalized? Is there a need for a UNIFIED COMMAND? If so, how will this joint command be formalized? Consider not only SAR, but salvage operations, oil spill response, medical, media, etc. What information is critical to your organization at this time? What level of care can crew of USCG H60 provide for injured passengers?

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Topic 3: Scenario Update

Time: 1230 The vessel remains grounded. Two tugs are now on scene. All fires are extinguished. Heavy smoke continues to fill passageways. The captain has decided to evacuate the passengers and non-essential crew aboard the AMHS M/V COLUMBIA, the nearest vessel for assistance. Passengers will be taken to Wrangell. Media interest is rapidly increasing. Local airline services report several requests for charters to the area. Several F/V and private boats are starting to gather in the area and are ready to provide assistance as required. Several passengers, seeing the fishing vessels, demand to be allowed to leave aboard the fishing vessels. Next high tide is approximately 1530. Weather remains favorable with winds SE to 15 kts, overcast.

Topic 3: Focus Questions

How will the evacuation take place? How will they passengers be transported? How will they be taken aboard the rescue vessel? How will passengers be accounted for during evacuation to the M/V COLUMBIA? What will occur if some passengers are missing? How will they be tracked and accounted for in Wrangell? Where will they be housed, fed, and cared for? Who is responsible for these activities?

Topic 4: Scenario Update

At 1630: Vessel remains hard aground. All fires are out. A small amount of oil continues to leak from vessel. Passenger evacuation is nearly complete. The city of Wrangell is requesting to know how long the people will be in town, and what assistance will they be expected to provide. Five passengers cannot be accounted for. Some passengers are worried that they left behind prescription medicines. Others complain of leaving behind valuables in their staterooms. Some departed in such a hurry that they left wallets, ID, and money behind. Weather is scheduled to become increasing more severe, with winds to 25kts and rain expected for the next 2-3 days.

Topic 4: Focus Questions

Missing Passengers. How will the information concerning missing passengers be shared with all the involved parties? Who has the major need to know, and why? What actions will be conducted to located the missing passengers? Who will coordinate this effort? Shoreside Support. What assistance will be provided to the town of Wrangell to deal with the passengers and crew? How long can they be expected to remain in town? What are some options for shelter, food, warm clothing? What organizations / agencies can be engaged to assist with the care of passengers? How will the response managers coordinate their efforts? Is there a need to develop a checklist to help communities prepare for this type of scenario? How will the issue of medicines be resolved? Who is responsible to provide emergency funds for those leaving money behind? What special services will be provided to the passengers? How will the hordes of media be handled?

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Large Cruise Ship Table Top Exercise

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Group 1 Debrief:
(by Captain Kaare Bakke - Norwegian Cruise Lines)

When the fire started all emergency preparation and all the appropriate notifications from the ship took place. The alarm was sounded and the fire screen doors and all watertight doors were closed. The fire team was dispatched to the fire area. The captain notified the Coast Guard via satellite communication. We can also use VHF-FM notification. The captain notified the main office, Miami, the ship operations department. Based on the time differences, the local time in Miami was 11:30 AM so notification to the main office was not a factor. He also notified the port agent in Ketchikan and reported this to MSO Juneau. The crew on board started to fight the fire. The fire was very difficult to extinguish. Since they could not extinguish the fire with the regular fire team and the area was evacuated, the watertight doors were closed and total flooding of CO2 was released. During the exercise, 8 people from the Away Team were designated to meet the ship. Representatives from MSO Juneau, AST, EMS, ADC, and fire fighter, the local agent sent two representatives and a representative from P&I. The Seattle office established a crisis team, which meets in a separate room for this purpose. Representatives from different departments are members of the crisis team. The most senior person in the various departments is designated to appear. If that person is not available, the second in command shows up. The satellite systems on board for communications were working. There were two satellite systems on board: ComSat and the Business 9 MTM. During a crisis, the satellite communication for telephones used by passengers, ComSat, is switched off and secured for emergency purposes only. The Coast Guard established a Command Center in Juneau and identified cutters available in Petersburg and in Ketchikan that would. Further investigated identified a ferry about an hour away. The ferry was dispatched to the ship to assist. It was decided that based on this emergency the ship would have to be evacuated. During the evacuation process, we were introduced to different scenarios for the various groups. An emergency rescue via helicopter was established in order to evacuate those injured passengers and crew. The vessel is hard aground with a minor oil spill and a small quantity of fuel oil escaped into the water. The captains concern at this time was the safety of passengers and crew. The oil spill was not a major issue at this time. During this scenario, the ships divers are utilized to inspect the damage. In the grounding situation, the first thing to do is sound the tanks and identify the leaks. If the draft changed you can identify how hard aground you are.

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Response units seemed to work reasonably well and the support from various entities and various response teams were identified. It was decided to evacuate the passengers and send them to Wrangell. Passengers and crew accountability was addressed. This is of great concern in this case since we had injured people and a lot of smoke. We identified the method we use for mustering all passengers during a drill. Either prior to departure or after departure, each assembly station and boat is equipped with computer printouts of every passenger and their cabin number assigned to that boat or assembly. The assembly station leader checks them against the list. The passengers and crew are familiar with this method during an emergency and we decided to continue with this system for identification and control on accountability of all the passengers. In this case, we used the ships lifeboats for the evacuation process. We didnt lower the boats from the boat deck since the ship was aground and one of the tendering gates was still accessible. The lifeboats would be lowered without the passengers and would load via the tendering platform area. The ferry that rescued the passengers was going to Wrangell. Charter flights would be set up to get all the passengers out of Wrangell as soon as possible. The passengers would receive a letter of refund notification. Our policy is to refund the price of the cruise in these cases, plus they will have a 50 percent or 75 percent off on their future cruise. In this case, we were not able to keep the luggage with the passengers, so the luggage would have to be forwarded to their home later on. This is not the best situation but the safety of the people comes first. Due to the remote area and limitations of hotel space etc the most important thing for us is to evacuate the passengers, get them to a safe destination, but also, as soon as possible, fly them home. We have a system in place where passenger service or customer relation makes hotel arrangements and meets the passengers at the hotel. We have done this a few times with other incidents where cruises have been canceled on short notice and you really have to get to hotel space and provide for a meal and return flights home. We have experience with this scenario. We were introduced to this accident and, of course, you lose power. If there was a place to drop the anchor, you would have done that, but always, were not discussing what ended up to this situation, we are just faced with this situation now and must act accordingly.

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Group 2 Debrief:
(by Alan Friedman - Celebrity Cruise Lines)

The objectives of our group were to clarify the role of Away Team concept, discuss the establishment of a joint response organization, to discuss the ability to accurately track passenger accountability, and to identify areas for improvement for community preparation and involvement. We started by discussing the official notification timing and determined that the notification would occur at the point of the fire. The pilot on board said that he would do the notification to the Coast Guard immediately via Channel 16 and therefore, the captain of the vessel or management on board would notify the agent and the local office via satellite communications. Upon notification in Miami, where we have an Emergency Response Management Team, we would use our Emergency Response Organization Manual. The vessels have this on board and they would start their checklist response, first for the explosion and initial fire, and then later subsequent to grounding. At that time, the office would assemble in our crisis room and we would notify the chairman of the company and all appropriate internal notifications: Finance, Marine and Fleet Operations, sales and marketing, corporate communications, etc. The local agent (CLAA) would immediately establish a communications link with the Coast Guard. The agent would send a representative to the vessel and hed also send a representative to the Incident Command Post (ICP), wherever the set up would be. For this incident we decided that we would set up in Ketchikan. The agent would notify his local office in Wrangell and hed give a heads up to local hospitals for possible casualties. Again, at this point in an incident, its too early to really know what we have, but he gives a heads up that weve got an incident and possibly stand by for casualties. During this time, our company would be organizing about 150 to 200 people to handle an incident for a possible evacuation, which was evident later on in this scenario. We do have a staff of people that come from our reservations, air/sea, post and pre-cruise departments in Miami that would also come to assist us. Theyre in the business to move a large number of people all the time so we would rely heavily on them for their support as well. They would handle ground support, logistics, getting people situated once theyre off the vessel to the airports, hotels, or to help coordinate the transfer into churches, gymnasiums, schools, or whatever else we needed. They would also help coordinate the response. We would try to keep the passengers on the vessel for as long as possible because thats your best way to maintain control and to have total accountability. The Coast Guard mentioned that initially wed have Search and Rescue (SAR) response and then MSO Juneau would be notified. Communications would be established with the master of the vessel as well. As LT McNutt said, the Away Team would be sent to the vessel with their field of expertise and assist the master. The Alaska State Troopers would be notified to set up the states notification to coordinate a SAR response for the state.

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The vessel would continue to fight the fire, stabilize the situation and communicate with the main office. The vessel also has a mass casualty plan that would probably be implemented based on the scenario of 12 people having smoke inhalation. Depending on whether or not the medical facility would be accessible because of the fire, our vessel has a secondary medical facility thats equipped with oxygen and other equipment that we could treat and set up triage however needed to do so From the scenario, five personnel were reported were missing. Our ships are equipped with infrared thermal helmets and at the point in time we dont know if theyre missing because they never made it to their station or they might have slipped through and gotten ashore. But once the fire is stabilized, the search and rescue team on board would go through the vessel cabin by cabin, deck by deck, and space by space and search to see if there might be casualties that are unaccounted for. The way we track people at Celebrity is we muster all our passengers into the big lounges for muster stations before we send them out to the actual embarkation deck. This scenario calls for everyone to be at the embarkation deck in some inclement weather or maybe cold weather and they maybe starting to get hypothermic. We played the scenario out like tha t, but in our case, most of these people, if we had access to the lounge and it was not contaminated by the fire, then these people would actually be inside, sitting in seats and wed have total control. If the vessel still has its services, youre able to provide food. If it has plumbing, you can provide toilet facilities. So, our goal is to try to keep them on as long as we possibly could. As for the evacuation, after a discussion we decided to use the lifeboats. The Alaska State ferry, which was operating in the area, would be contacted for assistance. The embarkation deck or the loading platform on the tender had to be married out and the pilot suggested that if possible, wed use one of your lifeboats as an elevator to get up to the 20 or 30 feet we needed. That would be if we were going to use the Alaska State ferry as a platform the way the scenario called for. Another alternative, based on the schedule and the date and time of this incident, was to request that another cruise ship in-port in Ketchikan get underway and assist on-scene. Again, if we could keep the passengers on board this opens up several coordination possibilities for their eventual evacuation. If we can keep control of it, its better than putting these 800 people ashore someplace where we have to really work hard to maintain some type of control. The last thing was to identify areas for improvement for community preparation and involvement. In this group, we had some active participation from the state, but I guess the questions still remain with regard to the local communitys expectations. I think we need to make the communities more aware of what the cruise lines will provide in this type of event. We have to work more closely with the communities to see that they get the information they need. At this point, it seemed, from the comments that were lacking in that area. There was also some question as to actual involvement from the Red Cross in this type of scenario.

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MSO Comments on the Away Team Concept:

(by LT Cecil McNutt - MSO Juneau)

With regard to the Away Team the group focused on whether or not it would be of value to the Coast Guard; to the ship and the agents; and also to the local community. We concluded that the concept appears to be a valuable tool for everyone involved. The biggest challenge centered on having a single point of contact for the master while also addressing the multiple onboard locations from which the team would assist. In this situation, we chose to have five members go on board, the Alaska State Troopers, Coast Guard, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), the local Emergency Medical System (EMS) representative, and a fire department representative. We felt that team members from the Away Tam needed to pair up with their counterpart on the ship. This allows the flow of information to go from the EMS person to the doctor, the Fire Department representative to the Fire Department, etc, to coordinate the type of resources that are needed. Other items that needed improvement with the Away Team are: 1) The notification procedures to get the Away Team going was unclear, we need to establish a clearer notification procedures to get everybody involved and up and running at the same time. 2) We need to establish communications with the cruise line agencies, since their main goal was to fly a person out as well. 3) We need to get the instructions and the concept of the Away Team to the industry and the community for input.

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