Vaud: A look back at a totally avoidable CGN disaster

A detailed reading of the report by the experts commissioned by the CGN to shed light on the events of March 29 in Cully (VD) is enough to leave you speechless. It appears to begin with that the date for the Simplon test race, after maintenance work, was decided on February 1 (almost two months earlier), without taking into account the training and swearing-in of the captains. which took place the same week nor the long Easter holiday to come. Nor was it anticipated that the weather conditions could be unfavorable and no replacement date had been planned. And, yet, there was no urgency, since the Simplon was not due to return to service before April 20.

Finally, the test took place on Thursday morning (March 28), for the simple reason that an expert who had come for the occasion had to take a plane at noon, without taking into account the weather and while the captain was ill. One of his colleagues replaced him at short notice, but he did not consult the bulletins or the on-board computers to check the weather forecast.

As soon as the boat left, an overheating problem arose, but the sensor supposed to detect this anomaly did not work. And there again, no one had checked before starting the engine. And it was only when Le Simplon was already offshore and the overheating had reached a critical level that the crew noticed the damage, to the point that fire-fighting equipment was necessary, as well as the total shutdown of the machines, leaving the boat adrift.

Decision was made to have the Simplon towed by the City of Geneva, which is not suitable for this task, while the operations director and the first captain were busy with another test run (on a Naviexpress) which should never have been done simultaneously. Moreover, no one contacted the company that owns the tugboat Jolimont, which was nevertheless available.

Given the impossibility of reaching Ouchy against the flow, the City of Geneva not having the necessary power, the decision to go to Cully was not the worst. On the other hand, leaving it there until the following Tuesday turned out to be catastrophic, as the pier was not suitable. And this decision was apparently taken by the operations manager early Thursday afternoon. He therefore still had plenty of time to change his mind, the weather conditions being favorable for a return from Simplon to Ouchy between Thursday 6 p.m. and Friday 5 p.m. That’s a window of twenty-three hours.

Despite all the urgent requests for this transfer, both from the operations office and from MeteoSwiss, during the afternoon of Thursday and again on Friday morning, this decision was never revised. A meteorologist had nevertheless sounded the alarm by all possible means: telephone, messages, emails, Facebook, Linkedin and even the media (lematin.ch and 20 minutes). Nothing happened.

As widely announced by specialists, the Vaudaire finally smashed the Simplon and the Cully pier during the night from Friday to Saturday. And it was only after the first damage that the CGN executives decided to rush back from their respective vacations. But most only arrived in Lausanne on Saturday morning. No picket or on-call service had been planned.

On Saturday morning, what remained of the ship was brought back to Ouchy and the CGN explained that it was due to a lack of personnel that the maneuver had not been carried out in time. In reality, between employees on regular lines and those who spontaneously announced themselves, it appears that the CGN’s communication was misleading. It should also be noted that neither the members of management nor the captains or the operations office had received coordinated crisis management training and no protocol had been established.

In short, it was an incredible series of errors and bad decisions that led to the near destruction of the century-old boat. If the sinking of the Simplon was miraculously avoided, in particular thanks to the emergency services and some of the staff, it highlights a real sinking of the CGN executives.