International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 2
Number 2
June 2008
179
Analysis of Sea Accidents in 2006
M. Bogalecka & M. Popek
Gdynia Maritime University, Gdynia, Poland
ABSTRACT: There are less than a hundred accidents and incidents reported in 2006. The information about
accidents was logged on to Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water
Pollution (CEDRE) and International Maritime Organization websites.
Types of ships involved in accidents, location of casualties, types of initial events, consequences and seasons
of sea accident were analysed.
1 INSTRUCTION
Accidents on the sea waters have involved
passengers and cargo vessels. Sometimes sea
transport of dangerous goods can become dangerous
because of accidents and may generate marine
environment threats. Unexpected releases of toxic,
flammable, explosive, carcinogenic and other
substances into the sea environment as the result of
dangerous accidents are often inevitable.
2 SEA ACCIDENTS CASES
There were 86 accidents reported in 2006 in IMO
and CEDRE databases. A lot of described accidents
involved ship damages without any pollution and
lost of life. There were few accidents with huge
amounts of pollution (Dewi Parwati and Shinfutaba,
Solar 1, Global Peace and Tom Tough) and some of
them took a heavy toll on human life (Al Salam
Boccaccio, Al-Dana, Heng Da 1).
2.1 Al Salam Boccaccio 98 accident (February 3)
Al Salam Boccaccio 98 was registered as Ro-
Ro/passenger vessel. While the ship was sailing to
the port of destination of Safaga (Egypt), the fire was
detected. The Master and the crew of the vessel
battled the fire for around 4 hours without any
success. It caused the vessel to list excessively to
starboard side, as the water accumulated on the deck
because the scuppers were blocked with cargo (cars,
trailers, containers). The ship sank in the Red Sea,
57 miles from the coast. There were 1031 lives lost
and 387 people, including 24 (of 97) crew
members were rescued in this accident.
2.2 Al-Dana accident (March 30)
The passenger ship Al-Dana was cruising in the
south area of Sh. Khalifa Bin Sulman Al-Khalifah
(Persian Gulf), with 131 passengers and crew on
board. The vessel capsized in fair weather conditions
resulting in the loss of 58 lives.
2.3 Heng Da 1 accident (February 16)
Heng Da 1 – refrigerated cargo ship ran aground and
broke up 2 miles East of Dongshen Island, Fujian
(China). The hull cracked into two parts. After an
emergency search, only 1 seafarer survived, 3 were
dead and 33 were missing.
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2.4 Dewi Parwati with Shinfutaba accident
(August 10)
The 499-ton Shinfutaba, with 5 crew members, was
loaded with sand when it hit the 6,306-ton general
cargo ship Dewi Parwati, with 19 crew members in a
dense fog. Shinfutaba sank. In this area 24 tons of oil
was spilled as a result of the collision. All 5 crew
members of Shinfutaba were rescued by the Dewi
Parwati, and one slight injury was reported among
the crew.
2.5 Solar 1 accident (August 11)
Oil tanker Solar 1 was en route in the southern
island of Mindanao (South China Sea). Because of
rough seas, Solar 1 sunk at about 500 km southeast
of Manila. 18 people of the 20 on board were
rescued. Two have been missing since the accident.
The sunken Solar 1 tanker spilled oil in a 15 square
nautical miles.
2.6 Global Peace with Tom Tough accident
(January 24)
The accident happened at Gladstone harbour (Coral
Sea, Australia) during a tugging operation. One of
the tug’s engines failed and the tug (Tom Tough)
collided with the ship – Global Peace, penetrating its
hull. Heavy fuel oil had been flowing from the hole
in the side of the Global Peace into the harbour for
about 45 minutes. It was estimated that 25 m3 of
heavy fuel oil escaped from the ship into Gladstone
harbour. The port's emergency response was initiated
immediately and the ensuing clean up was started the
next morning, and had continued for 7 days.
3 SHIP ACCIDENT ANALYSIS
3.1 Casualty classes of ship accidents
Ship casualties are classified, according to the MSC-
MEPC.3/Circ. 1, (International Maritime
Organization 2005), as:
− very serious casualties (total loss of the ship, loss
of life, or severe pollution),
− serious casualties (involve a fire, explosion,
collision, grounding, contact, heavy weather
damage, ice damage, hull cracking, or suspected
hull defect resulting in immobilization of main
engines, extensive accommodation damage,
severe structural damage, rendering the ship unfit
to proceed, or regardless pollution or a breakdown
necessitating towage or shore assistance),
− less serious casualties,
− marine incidents.
Only very serious, serious and less serious
casualties are essential in the analysis because show
real threats for the human life and the environment.
Then marine incidents are omitted in the analysis.
Fig. 1. Ship accidents in 2006 according to the casualty class
3.2 Types of ships involved in accidents
Document MSC-MEPC.3/Circ. 1 (International
Maritime Organization 2005) contains and identifies
27 types of ships and ships structures: 1 – liquefied
gas tanker, 2 – chemical tanker, 3 – oil tanker, 4 –
other liquids (non-flammable) tanker, 5 – bulk dry
(general, ore) carrier, 6 – bulk dry / oil carrier, 7 –
self-discharging bulk dry carrier, 8 – other bulk dry
(cement, woodchips, urea and other specialized)
carrier, 9 – general cargo ship, 10 – passenger /
general cargo ship, 11 – container ship, 12 –
refrigerated cargo ship, 13 – Ro-Ro cargo ship, 14 –
passenger / Ro-Ro cargo ship, 15 – passenger ship,
16 – high speed craft, 17 – other dry cargo
(livestock, barge, heavy cargo, etc.) carrier, 18 – fish
catching vessel, 19 – fish factory ship / fish carrier,
20 – offshore supply ship, 21 – other offshore ship,
22 – research ship, 23 – towing / pushing tug, 24 –
dredger, 25 – other activities ship, 26 – non-
propelled ships, 27 – other ships structures.
Fig. 2. Ship accidents in 2006 according to the type of ship
181
General cargo ships, container ships and bulk dry
carriers were oftenest involved in sea accidents in
2006 (Fig. 2).
3.3 Location of casualties
The location of casualties are meaningful when
cargo release into the sea environment and make its
pollution.
The location of casualties are classified,
according to the MSC-MEPC.3/Circ. 1 (International
Maritime Organization 2005) as: 1 – at berth, 2 –
anchorage, 3 – port, 4 – port approach, 5 – inland
waters, 6 – canal, 7 – river, 8 – archipelagos, 9 –
coastal waters (within 12 miles), 10 – open sea.
The most sea accidents (80%) occurred in the
costal areas (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3. Ship accidents in 2006 according to the location of
casualty
3.4 Types of events initial sea accidents
There are 11 types of events that may initial sea
accidents (International Maritime Organization
2005): 1 – collision, 2 – stranding or grounding, 3 –
contact, 4 – fire or explosion, 5 – hull failure or
failure of watertight doors, ports, etc., 6 – machinery
damage, 7 – damages to ship or equipment,
8 – capsizing or listing, 9 – missing (assumed lost),
10 – accidents with life-saving appliances, 11 –
other.
A stranding or grounding and collision were the
oftenest initial event of analysed sea accidents in
2006 (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4. Ship accidents in 2006 according to the initial event
Moreover, it was found that human violations and
errors (routine, alcohol) and environmental causes
(heavy sea, restricted visibility and fog) were often
the primary causes of the initial events.
3.5 Consequences of sea accidents
There are 3 types of consequences of sea accidents
corresponded to (International Maritime
Organization 2005):
− the human life (loss of life, serious injuries),
− the environment (pollution make by oil in bunker,
oil cargo, or other chemicals),
− the ship (total loss of the ship, ship rendered unfit
to proceed, ship remains fit to proceed).
Most analysed accidents involved vessel damages
(Fig. 5).
Fig. 5. Ship accidents in 2006 according to the casualty
consequences
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3.6 Seasons of sea accident
A lot of sea accident were noted in winter and
early springtime (Fig. 6). Short day and bad weather
during these seasons could be reason of these.
Fig. 6. Ship accidents in 2006 according to the season
4 CONCLUSION
There are 86 sea accidents of 2006 analysed. The
analyse lets to find that:
− the most of accidents are the less serious
casualties,
− the general cargo ships are involved in the most
of analysed accidents,
− beaches and costs are the most threatened areas,
because a lot of sea accidents occurred in the
costal waters,
− damages of ship is the most common
consequences of accidents,
− a lot of accident occurred in winter and earlier
springtime.
PREFERENCES
Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on
Accidental Water Pollution website (http://www.cedre.fr/).
International Maritime Organization 2005. Casualty-related
matters reports on marine casualties and incidents. MSC-
MEPC.3/Circ.1, London, 26 September.
International Maritime Organization, Global Integrated
Shipping Information System website (http://gisis.imo.org/).
