Hurtigruten has reported that the Norwegian Maritime Authority’s (NMD) investigation of the COVID-19 outbreak aboard its ship, Roald Amundsen, discovered seven deviations and failures in health and safety protocols, as well as ISM-Code compliance.
Hurtigruten said that it is now working to correct its systems, along with any deviations within the three months it has been given by the Norwegian Maritime Authority.
Commenting on these findings, CEP Daniel Skjeldam stated that these are the first steps toward transparency and the improvement of all aspects of the company’s operation. It is now waiting an external investigation that will provide more information and broader basis for the work.
Norway launched an audit based on the COVID-19 outbreak on the Roald Amundsen at the end of the July and because of how this was handled by Hurtigruten.
While finding deviations and failures, the Norwegian Maritime Authority can deny Hurtigruten ships to sail. However, the deviations were not serious enough to issue a no sail order, Hurtigruten noted.
The company should establish a plan to correct the deviations by September 21, and the corrections must be applied by November 24.
Some of the deviations and failures include:
- There was no risk assessment carried out before the start-up of cruise service in July, despite the pandemic situation.
- The reporting system aboard and to shore did not seem to work as employees suspected early on that people were infected.
- Plans for dealing with the outbreak did not work as expected, and even when the outbreak was reported and confirmed, there was a delay before the company reacted.