SAFETY ISSUES, ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS

ure Car Carrier design was largely driven by commercial requirements: more efficient loading and discharge, minimised cargo damage and greater car-carrying capabilities. However, the early ‘car bulkers’ also had safety issues. They had low freeboards, and car-loading ramps secured on deck were vulnerable to the seas, which could wash across the hatches in bad weather. In late March 1973 two ships, Norse Variant and Anita, were both lost in the same storm, having sailed from Newport