Despite commercial success, RoRo vessels are criticized, mainly on the safety point of view. In January 2017, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) released a circular saying that RoRo were responsible for almost two thirds of lives lost at sea whereas they represent a very small part of the merchant marine tonnage. 

This figure shows how dramatic the consequences of accidents involving RoRo are for the entire maritime industry. As a matter of fact, they don’t only affect the cargo and the ships but also the crew and the passengers. 

These are the main causes of those accidents: 

• human errors leading to operational faults; 

• improper cargo stowage and securing; 

• lack of stability; 

• insufficient internal bulkhead; 

• failed cargo access doors; 

• low freeboards; 

• weak or incorrect positioning of securing points combined with insufficient life-saving devices; 

• non-compliance with regulations. 

Therefore, the IMO has taken measures to reduce these accidents. Safety on board improvement is one of the major concerns and here are the points to be checked: 

• the maintaining systems of the ramps, lifts, and doors (bow and stern);  

• the decks’ lighting; 

• the vehicles’ moves on ramps and decks; 

• the condition of the decks; 

• the use of lashing equipment 

• the suspension of vehicles. 

On a wider scale, the IMO has set the following rules in order to increase RoRo vessels overall safety: 

• The crew must complete securing operations before departure.  

• The crew members appointed to the securing of the cargo should undergo extensive training on the most effective to lash different types of vehicles. 

• All the persons handling the vehicles lashing (both officers and supervisors) must have Cargo Securing manual content at their fingertips and have a high level of awareness about the risks.