Norsafe (Norway), a provider of evacuation systems to the maritime and offshore industries, recently announced the launch of Rescube, an evacuation system specifically designed for passenger ferries and cruise ships. The company investigated possible solutions to evacuate a large number of people from a ferry or a cruise vessel while considering typical problems such as lack of space on the evacuation deck, evacuation from only one level, and time constraints to complete the evacuation process. The Rescube allows evacuation from more than one deck level at the same time and employs a free fall system to enable quick escape.
The Rescube is designed for a vertical installation in a recess in the shipside or on the aft end of the vessel. Up to 330 passengers will be able to enter the Rescube from several levels. After closing, the Rescube will be released and it will move to a free fall position and then it will drop into the sea and behave as an ordinary free fall lifeboat. Norsafe recognized shortcomings of current systems that rely on conventional davit-launched lifeboats, arranged on open decks.
From a safety point of view, these systems involve significant risk potential, such as extending evacuation time due to overcrowding, congestion, lengthy travel time to the water surface, and passenger exposure to extreme weather conditions, among others. To manage these critical safety issues the Rescube lifeboat has been designed to act as a safe area, reduce congestion and deploy rapidly. And, because the Rescube is an integrated part of the ship superstructure, placed into the fire bulkhead between rescue zones, passengers can make their way to these lifeboats from up to six decks in parallel. This configuration also reduces the deck space occupied by lifeboats up to 30 percent.