Half of all maritime incidents took place in ports and terminals, according to new data from RightShip.
RightShip’s data shows there were 2,400 incidents in 2022 where the location was recorded. Half of the incidents occurred for vessels in the ports and terminals environments, and most of those (813) were in ports and harbours when docked.
Other incidents within ports and terminals occurred while using port facilities, waiting at anchorages, or during harbour transit.
The remaining half of incidents occurred while the vessels were at sea.
RightShip gathered its global incident data from various leading sources, including International Maritime Organization, Port State Control (PSC), classification societies, flag states, shipowner and managers self-reporting.
“Even though many larger ports are used to manage vessels of varying operational and safety standards each day, the data shows that the inherent risk while the vessel is within a port’s boundary is much larger than we previously thought,” said RightShip’s Port and Terminal Manager, Yucel Yildiz.
“Many of these risks are out of the port’s control, and they need to be ready to deal with issues as they occur, while also making sure their operations across all facilities are not disrupted.”
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According to RightShip, port authorities are aware of the dangers that safety gaps can have on the lives of seafarers and shore personnel.
RightShip emphasised that accidents can cause delays, pollution, or property damage, which is detrimental to the commercial goals of port management teams that want to draw ships to their ports and terminals.
Many port authorities and the operations teams within ports and terminals look to adopt high operational standards to reduce complicated and inherent risks, and maintain high operating performance.
RightShip claims that ports and terminals need to gather information effectively to plan and manage risk.
“If you can evaluate issues before you accept vessels into berth, and adopt record keeping on departures, you can plan for the risks instead of simply accepting that “accidents happen”, RightShip said.
This annual report comes several months after RightShip announced the acquisition of Thynk Software’s maritime tech business.