Forum Schiff

"Accident No.: DCA-03-MM-032
Accident Type: Boiler rupture
Vessel: Bahamas-registered passenger vessel S/S Norway
Location: Piers 1 and 2, Miami, Florida
Date: May 25, 2003
Time: 0637 eastern daylight time 1
Owner/Operator: Norwegian Cruise Line
Property Damage: $20-$23 million
Complement: 911 crew, 2,135 passengers
Fatalities/Injuries: Passengers: none Crew: 8 fatalities; 10 serious injuries; 7 minor injuries

Introduction
At 0637 on May 25, 2003, the Bahamas-registered passenger vessel S/S Norway
(figure 1), with 911 crewmembers and 2,135 passengers on board,2 suffered a boiler
rupture in the aft boiler room. The accident occurred about an hour after the vessel had
moored in Miami, Florida, at the end of a 7-day Caribbean cruise. As a result of the
accident, 8 crewmembers sustained fatal injuries, 10 suffered serious injuries, and 7
received minor injuries.3 No passengers were injured.


Figure 1. In 2003, the 43-year-old Norway (originally the S/S France) was one of the last of the steam-driven cruise ships operating out of U.S. ports. After the accident, the ship was removed from service and later sold for scrap.

The Norway, owned and operated by Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), was a
conventional welded, steel-hulled liner, certificated for unrestricted international
voyages. The ship met the regulations of the International Convention for the Safety of
Life at Sea, 1960 (SOLAS 60), and the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966.
After various upgrades in 1980, the vessel met the standards of the 1974 SOLAS
Convention (SOLAS 74).
The Norway was built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique (Penhoët-Loire) in Saint-
Nazaire, France, and originally sailed under the French flag as the S/S France. When
launched in 1960, the France was the longest oceangoing liner in the world. The France
operated primarily in the trans-Atlantic trade from the time of its construction until 1974.
In 1979, the liner was sold to Klosters Rederi A/S,4 one of Norway’s oldest shipping
companies. Klosters had the vessel overhauled for its Caribbean cruising operations,
which was run by its subsidiary, Norwegian Caribbean Lines.5 Klosters renamed the
vessel the S/S Norway in 1979 and registered it in Norway. Beginning in 1980, the
Norway operated on Caribbean cruises that originated at Miami, and in 1987, the vessel
was reflagged to the Bahamas flag. In October 2000, Star Cruises,6 NCL’s parent
company, announced that the Norway would be relocated to the Asian market, a decision
that was later reversed.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the Norway accident under
the authority of the Independent Safety Board Act of 1974 and according to Safety Board
rules. The designated parties to the investigation were the U.S. Coast Guard; NCL;
Bureau Veritas (BV), the classification society that inspected the Norway;7 Bahamas
Maritime Authority, the vessel’s flag state; Siemens, the manufacturer of the vessel’s
boiler control and monitoring system; and Lloyd Werft Shipyard, which performed or
contracted out boiler repairs in Bremerhaven, Germany, in 1987 and 1990.
In investigating the cause of the boiler rupture, the Safety Board reviewed the
boiler repair history recorded in various company and classification society documents
over the last 40 years (see “Boiler History” section). The Board also examined the
operating practices and inspection procedures that affected boiler safety (see “Factors
Affecting Boiler Life”). Representatives of the parties cooperated with the Board in its
postaccident investigation (see “Postaccident Investigation and Findings”)."