Liability and insurance for the carriage of passengers by sea under regulation 392/2009 : providing a lifeline to the cruise industry and ensuring proper compensation for passengers in the event of accidents

Abstract

The point that ‘statistically, cruising is one of the safest ways to travel' is an essentially valid one that is often made and, with the addendum that ‘of the 153 million passengers carried between 2002 and 2011, only six died in operational incidents’, an altogether impressive one. It is, however, a point that must be qualified with another consideration in the light of recent happenings, namely the grounding of the Costa Concordia in January and the stranding of the Costa Allegra in February: While statistically safer than other means of transport, when things go wrong in the case of carriage by sea, the stakes may well be considerably higher than might be the case with other means of transport.