This is not the year for the Italian cruise line Costa Crociere!
Readers of this blog know about the disaster involving the super-liner Costa Concordia. Now it seems that another Costa vessel is in trouble. The Telegraph broke the story this morning that Costa Allegra is adrift in the Indian Ocean following a fire that broke out in its electrical room. See the story here. Allegra has over 1,000 people on board, but the company reports that all are safe, that the fire has been put out and that tugs are on their way.
The Telegraph says that this vessel was built in 1992 in Genoa. Quickly checking the Lloyd’s registers, it appears that this vessel was actually built in 1969 by a Finnish company. Originally named Annie Johnson, the vessel was converted in 1992 from a container ship, her hull was lengthened, and 4 new diesel engines were installed to drive the twin propeller shafts.
The register does not indicate, however, that the 3 auxiliary generators of 2000kW each were replaced. What other systems of this aging ship may not have been replaced during the 1992 refit?