JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY-TAIWAN, vol.23, no.5, pp.748-760, 2015 (SCI-Expanded)
Despite modern bridge equipment,
new technologies, and improved safety measures, maritime accidents still occur,
and an analysis of their causes is essential in preventing future accidents. Ship
groundings are one of the more frequent types of accidents encountered, and
this study examines the maritime accident reports issued for grounded ships
between 1993 and 2011. These were sourced using the International Maritime Organization’s
Global Integrated Shipping Information System and the reports published by the
countries and relevant institutions that investigated the accidents. The
grounding accidents are analysed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process, and the
objective of this study is to act as an advisory paper on the prevention of
grounding accidents involving human error. The results suggest that the most
significant causes of these types of accidents are, lack of communication and
coordination in Bridge Resource Management, position-fixing application errors,
lookout errors, interpretation errors, use of improper charts, inefficient use
of bridge navigation equipment, and fatigue. It is suggested that providing more
education and training opportunities to seafarers, promoting widespread use on
board of Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems, and improving
seafarers’ working hours and rest breaks would help to reduce grounding accidents
significantly.