Good day Michael
I absolutely agree there is no reason to panic. The main problem is actually very simple,,why in the hell a ship like that is in a place like that !!!!
Any Master should have said,,no way,,going that close,,does not matter how big the ship. But then, he has to show the passengers and the owners that he is the "Master" who can perform as needed.
Safety systems can be overrided,,de-activated,,but the worst case actually is when people think they know and in reality they don,t know where they are. that,s called simply "safety awardness" . I noticed it very often that officers standing in front of ECDIS (Eletronic Charts) and when you ask them look out of the window,,they have no clue where they are !!!
The main reason for that is,,that nowadays naut officers are teached by people who never sailed. In Germany for example is to my knowledge not one teacher left in the nautical academies who sailed as Master by himself. 30 years ago when I made my license all of our teachers were ex-captains. Nowadays they are professors in their line of teachings, mathematics for example, but if you ask them what is a ship,,they look at you like you are from another planet.
Secondly, all are teached first nowadays how to operate electronic systems and how to push this and that buttom, but almost nothing about that why this or that buttom is pushed and what the results, then viewable, are good for. Nautical schools have 8 semester generally, 6 for theoretical and 2 for praxis, Now the push is on for 7 in schools. More praxis is needed not more school.
Youg nautical officers nowadays have programs to determine from where the wind comes. The wind comes from 271.9 degrees,,not from WEST !!!!!!!
Ever since ECDIS was invented and "forced" onto the ships accidents increased, now is the talk to send all back to school to understand ECDIS,, First one has to understand how a ship is functioning and how it gets from A to B and then I can get the gadgets which may make life easier,,not the other way around.
But then I guess, I am an old guy who does not know what he is talking about