Managing Maritime Crises: A Systematic Literature Review of Passenger Ships’ Operations During Accidents and Unforeseen Events Using the PSALSAR Method

K.A. Chrysafis ¹

, G.C. Papadopoulou ¹

¹ University of the Aegean, Chios, Greece

DOI: 10.12716/1001.20.02.07

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ABSTRACT: International organisations and shipping companies placed particular emphasis on ship safety both in the covid and post-covid eras. In 2023, passenger shipping experienced a rapid increase in the number of passengers as a response to the recently resolved crisis. With the full resumption of passenger shipping, significant changes were made to ship’s operational practices to fully align with the new health protocols. These changes were not limited to health-related aspects but also led to the redesign of the ship's operational practices at multiple levels. What has now become clear to stakeholders in the shipping industry -and even more so in the passenger shipping sector- is that unforeseen events can escalate into crises of various magnitudes. A multi-level redesign of ship operations (including engineering, navigation, safety, environmental, security, administrative, and commercial operations, etc.) became necessary for the effective management of unexpected crises and for identifying visible risks. This paper conducts a systematic literature review using the improved version of the SALSA method, the PSALSAR method. The Scopus database was used to extract high-quality and reliable academic papers. The results identify the most significant changes in passenger ship operations, and reveal a new philosophy for crisis management in the passenger shipping sector.

KEYWORDS: Risk Assessment, Maritime Safety, Search and Rescue (SAR), Safety and Security in Sea Transportation, Safety Management, Passenger Ships, Crisis Management, Human Factors and Crew Resource Management

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Citation note:

Chrysafis K.A., Papadopoulou G.C.: Managing Maritime Crises: A Systematic Literature Review of Passenger Ships’ Operations During Accidents and Unforeseen Events Using the PSALSAR Method. TransNav, the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, Vol. 20, No. 2, doi:10.12716/1001.20.02.07, pp. 311-323, 2026

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Konstantinos A. Chrysafis: ORCID iD icon

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Georgia C. Papadopoulou: ORCID iD icon

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