Should Drivers Ever Go Back to the Car Deck?

Not without the master's consent, and on most crossings not at all. SOLAS regulation II-1/23 says no passenger may enter an enclosed ro-ro deck during navigation unless the master or a designated officer agrees, and it requires vehicle spaces to be patrolled or monitored so unauthorised access is spotted. Yet when Euroferry Olympia burned in February 2022, all 11 people who died were truck drivers, found in their cabs on the vehicle decks.

On a freight ro-pax the people closest to the cargo are its drivers, and the vehicle deck is where most fires on these ships begin. When a fire starts, a driver asleep in a cab is in the worst place on the ship: in the smoke, among closely packed trucks, far from a muster station. The rule exists for that reason, and the casualty record shows how often it is not enough on its own.

What the rules say

Passengers stay off enclosed vehicle decks at sea unless the master allows it, and the ship must be able to see if they don't. SOLAS II-1/23 sets three relevant requirements for ro-ro passenger ships. Paragraph 1 requires special category and ro-ro spaces to be continuously patrolled or monitored by effective means, such as television surveillance, so that vehicle movement in bad weather and unauthorised access by passengers can be detected during navigation. Paragraph 3 requires accesses from the ro-ro deck to spaces below the bulkhead deck to be closed before the voyage and kept closed until the next berth. Paragraph 9 bars passengers from an enclosed ro-ro deck during navigation without the express consent of the master or a designated officer.

Chapter II-2 adds a fire layer. Regulation 20 requires an efficient fire patrol system in special category spaces. For new passenger ships from 1 January 2026, and existing ones at the first survey after 1 January 2028, Resolution MSC.550(108) adds video monitoring of vehicle spaces. The access rule and the fire rules overlap: the same patrol or camera that looks for a shifting trailer or an early fire is the one that should see a driver who has gone back to a cab.

How drivers end up on the deck anyway

Usually by staying in the cab rather than going back to it. On an overnight freight crossing a driver may sleep in the truck instead of taking a cabin. After Euroferry Olympia, the Greek truck drivers' union SEOFAE said drivers slept in their vehicles because the cabins on board were unsuitable. The ship's own pre-departure sweep is the control that should catch this. It depends on the crew checking every cab on a packed deck, often at night and under time pressure to sail.

Others go back during the voyage: to fetch belongings, to check a load or, on a reefer, to look at the refrigeration unit. The rule allows that only with the master's consent, which in practice means escorted, logged and brief. What it does not allow is the quiet return through an unlocked stairway door. Paragraph 1's patrol-or-camera requirement exists to catch exactly that.

What Euroferry Olympia showed

That a sleeping driver is invisible to the muster and in the path of the fire. The ship left Igoumenitsa at about 01:30 on 18 February 2022. At 03:56, about 12 nm north-east of Corfu and making 17 knots, the first fire alarm sounded for the main garage on Deck 2. A patrolling seaman sent to check saw smoke coming from the garage. Passengers and crew were mustered and evacuated in the ship's two lifeboats, and 279 were rescued.

The deaths were all on the vehicle decks. During the search, one driver who had been asleep in his truck on Deck 1 made his own way out of the vehicle spaces and was picked up by the rescue team. Eleven others were later found in truck cabins on Decks 1, 2 and 3. The search was not completed until 23 March 2022: dense smoke and the narrow gaps between trucks limited access, and the fire re-ignited when the stern ramp was opened on 28 February.

Are drivers on deck a hazard or an early warning?

Both, and the rules come down firmly on the side of keeping them off. A driver near a truck may smell burning or see smoke before a deckhead detector does. But the same driver has no means of fighting the fire, no breathing apparatus and no direct line to the bridge. They also stand in the smoke layer the moment a fire grows. The ferry fires that have killed drivers did so because they were on the deck, not because someone failed to notice the fire. The sensible design keeps people off the deck and gives the ship its own early warning there.

What operators should do

• Make the pre-departure deck sweep a logged check of every cab, signed off before the accesses are closed under SOLAS II-1/23.
• Reconcile the muster count against the driver list specifically, not only the total passenger count.
• Alarm or lock deck access doors from the passenger side, and treat any consented visit as escorted and logged.
• Use the patrol and the video monitoring required under SOLAS and MSC.550(108) to look for people as well as vehicle movement and smoke.
• Give drivers cabins they will actually use on overnight crossings; the alternative is a sleeping driver in a cab.

Seaworld Marine 2, a Korean ro-pax, shows how often freight ferries face this mix. In February 2026, about 40 minutes out of Jeju with 12 truck drivers and 127 vehicles aboard, a reefer truck caught fire on the cargo deck. The ship turned back, and four people, two crew and two drivers, were treated for smoke inhalation. Where those drivers were when the fire started has not been reported.

Sources

• 1. SOLAS Chapter II-1, Regulation 23 (Special requirements for ro-ro passenger ships), paragraphs 1, 3 and 9, as published at imorules.com: continuous patrol or monitoring of special category and ro-ro spaces to detect vehicle movement and unauthorised passenger access during navigation; closure of accesses below the bulkhead deck before the voyage; no passenger access to an enclosed ro-ro deck during navigation without the express consent of the master or designated officer. SOLAS II-2/20.4.3.1: efficient fire patrol system in special category spaces.
• 2. IMO Resolution MSC.550(108), in force 1 January 2026: video monitoring of vehicle spaces on new passenger ships, and on existing passenger ships at the first survey on or after 1 January 2028. Covered, with its source, in the linked post on SOLAS 2026 video monitoring.
• 3. Hellenic Bureau for Marine Casualty Investigation (HBMCI) — Interim Safety Investigation Report, EUROFERRY OLYMPIA, fire of 18 February 2022, read in full: departure from Igoumenitsa about 01:30; first fire alarm at 03:56 for the main garage on Deck 2, 12 nm north-east of Corfu at about 17 knots; patrol AB saw smoke; evacuation by two lifeboats; one truck driver asleep in his truck on Deck 1 exited by himself; re-ignition when the stern ramp was opened on 28 February; search completed 23 March 2022; 279 rescued and 11 dead, all truck drivers found inside truck cabins on Decks 1, 2 and 3.
• 4. Greek truck drivers' union SEOFAE, as reported by Greek City Times and Splash247 (February 2022): drivers slept in their vehicles because the ship's cabins were unsuitable.
• 5. The Maritime Executive — "Korean RoRo turns around after reporting truck fire" (6 February 2026): Seaworld Marine 2, Jeju to Mokpo; fire about 40 minutes after departure, believed to have started in a refrigerated truck; 16 crew, 12 truck drivers, 127 vehicles (86 trucks, 41 cars); four treated for smoke inhalation (two crew, two drivers); CCTV to be reviewed.
• 6. Danish Maritime Accident Investigation Board — Marine accident report on the fire on board STENA SCANDICA, 29 August 2022 (issued 4 September 2023): passengers counted on the sun deck against the passenger list, so cabins did not need to be searched. Covered in the linked post Can a Lorry Fire Black Out a Ferry?.