Moby Prince

1991

Livorno, the fog, the oil tanker Location: off Livorno, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy · Coordinates: 43.55°N 10.28°E · Casualties: 140 · Survivors: 1 · Depth: towed · scrapped · Cause: collision · fire — Rammed the anchored oil tanker Agip Abruzzo in thick fog at the entrance to Livorno at 22:25 on 10 April 1991. Crude oil poured onto the Moby Prince's deck and ignited. The fire was fed for hours while the Italian port authorities searched in the wrong area. · Fate: towed · scrapped · Type: roll-on/roll-off ferry · Navarma Lines · Tonnage: 6,718 tons · Crew: 75 · Flag: Italy · Launched: 1967 Italian roll-on ferry, Livorno to Olbia, running out of harbour in thick fog. Struck the anchored oil tanker Agip Abruzzo at 22:25 on 10 April 1991; the tanker's crude oil spilled onto her deck and ignited. The port authority spent hours searching in the wrong sector. 140 of 141 aboard died, mostly of asphyxiation in the aft salon where they had gathered. Italy's worst peacetime maritime disaster since the war; the independent inquiry of 2018 produced a final judgement of criminal negligence on the part of the port's emergency services. The Vessel The Moby Prince was an Italian car ferry of the Navarma shipping company, built at the Cantiere Navale Riuniti yard at Ancona, Italy between 1966 and 1967 and commissioned on 11 December 1967. She was 131 metres long, 6,187 gross tons, and powered by twin diesel engines producing approximately 6,600 horsepower. Her accommodation comprised approximately 1,500 passengers and approximately 200 road vehicles (cars, lorries, buses) on her lower deck vehicle bay. She was originally built as the SF Koningin Juliana for the Dutch-British ferry service between Harwich and Hoek van Holland; she was subsequently sold to Italian operators in 1986 and renamed Moby Prince. Her operational role from 1986 onwards was the year-round ferry service between Livorno (Italian mainland) and Olbia (Sardinia), a route of approximately 200 kilometres that she transited overnight. By April 1991, she had been operating on the Livorno-Olbia route for five years without substantial incident. Her crew complement of approximately 70 was typical for a medium-sized Italian car ferry of the period: Italian officers, multi-national deck and engine personnel, and a catering staff for the passenger services. Her master on her final voyage was Captain Ugo Chessa, 60, an experienced Navarma ferry master. Her complement on 10 April 1991 was 141 persons: approximately 75 passengers (predominantly Italian civilians travelling to Sardinia for the Easter holidays) plus 66 crew. The Disaster At approximately 22:27 on 10 April 1991, the Moby Prince collided with the anchored Agip Abruzzo at approximately 8 knots impact speed. The collision was head-on: the Moby Prince's bow struck the starboard side of the tanker approximately amidships. The specific impact penetrated the Agip Abruzzo's hull above the waterline; no oil was immediately released. However, the specific consequence of the impact was catastrophic for the Moby Prince. The tanker's hull plating was substantially thicker than the ferry's hull; the specific collision had compressed the ferry's bow significantly but had not penetrated the tanker's hull. The critical damage occurred when the Moby Prince's bow bent downwards and scraped along the tanker's hull plating, tearing open approximately 15 metres of the ferry's hull and exposing her cargo of vehicle fuel (in the trucks, cars, and buses stored in her vehicle bay) to open air. The specific catastrophic fire began within approximately 30 seconds of the initial collision. The combination of spilled fuel from the ferry's vehicle bay, the specific ignition source (likely electrical arcing from damaged ship systems), and the subsequent cascade of fire spreading through the enclosed vehicle bay produced an intense fire that rapidly engulfed the entire ship. The specific progression of the fire through the Moby Prince was catastrophic. Within approximately 5 minutes of the collision, the vehicle bay was entirely engulfed; within 10 minutes, fires had spread t