MS Herald of Free Enterprise - Aftermath

Aftermath

A salvage operation, conducted by Dutch company Smit-Tak Towage and Salvage (part of Smit International), was embarked upon almost immediately to refloat the ship. The operation was successfully concluded in late April 1987, allowing the remaining bodies trapped underwater to be removed. The ship was towed to Zeebrugge, and then across the Western Scheldt to the yard of De Schelde in Flushing, where her fate was decided. It had originally been assumed that she could be repaired and continue sailing. However, no buyer was found; she was sold to Compania Naviera SA of Kingstown, Saint Vincent for scrapping. She was renamed Flushing Range and the Townsend Thoresen branding painted over before her final sailing to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for scrapping. She began her final voyage on 5 October 1987, together with the MV Gaelic, towed by the Dutch tug Markusturm. The voyage was interrupted for four days when the ships encountered heavy weather off Cape Finisterre, though it resumed on 19 October 1987. The hulk began to disintegrate while off the coast of South Africa on 27 December 1987, and had to be towed into Port Elizabeth on 2 January 1988 to undergo temporary repairs to allow her to continue her voyage. Flushing Range, the former Herald of Free Enterprise, finally arrived in Taiwan on 22 March 1988.

Owing to the incident, the Townsend Thoresen name had inevitably been broadcast on television and in newspapers around the world. P&O quickly decided to rebrand the company as P&O European Ferries, repaint their fleet's red hulls in navy blue and remove the TT logo from the funnels (the "TT" logo on the Herald of Free Enterprise had been removed at the start of the salvage operation).

Since the accident several improvements to the design of this type of vessel have been made. These include indicators that display the state of the bow doors on the bridge, watertight ramps being fitted to the bow sections of the front of the ship, and "freeing flaps" to allow water to escape from a vehicle deck in the event of flooding. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea regulations were changed in 1990 to require 125 centimetres (49 in) of freeboard (in the case of RORO vessels, defined as the height between the vehicle deck and the water line) for all new ROROs, instead of the previous 76 centimetres (30 in). Some vessels omit the bow door configuration altogether and vehicles enter and exit from rear doors only. New International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations are in place that prohibit an open (undivided) deck of this length on a passenger RORO vessel.

The divers and rescuers who entered the capsized vessel to retrieve corpses received psychosocial support designed and delivered by Belgian Army psychologist Luc Quintyn. This was the first step to the establishment of a Crisis Psychology Unit within the Belgian Army Hospital.

Only one of Herald's two sister ships are still operational, the former Spirit of Free Enterprise was extended to increase her cargo capacity during her time under the P&O flag in a stretch and total rebuild operation and scrapped in 2012. The Pride of Free Enterprise is still more or less as built.

A few scenes of the disaster videotaped live by the media were used by film director Krzysztof Kieślowski as part of the conclusion of his film Three Colours: Red that bound together the Three Colours trilogy.

In Britain, a group named Ferry Aid released a charity record of the song "Let It Be" by The Beatles.

Nicholas Ridley, a government minister at the time, was criticised for alluding to the accident (while speaking on another subject) on 10 March. He was quoted as saying that "although he is the pilot of the Bill, he has not got his bow doors open". He apologised for the remark.

In 2007 Belgian singer Jonathan Vandenbroeck, more commonly known as Milow, released a song to mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. Titled "Herald of Free Enterprise" the song echoes the tragic events of the evening and was featured on his 2009 album "Milow".

The disaster was the subject of an episode from Series 2 of Seconds From Disaster.