Spatial Analysis of Maritime Accidents Using the Geographic Information System

Despite the tremendous efforts of maritime organizations to achieve a safe and secure maritime transportation system, the losses through maritime accidents and incidents are still increasing. This paper analyzes the spatial distribution of maritime accidents occurring from January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2011, based on the Marine Casualties and Incidents module of the Global Integrated Shipping Information System. The geographic information system, an effective and efficient tool for spatial analysis with high visualization, is used to carry out the analysis. Hot-spot analysis of maritime accidents identifies the hot spots. Buffer analysis is used to calculate accidents that occurred in coastal areas. Finally, the following two important results are obtained from the analysis. First, the identification of hot spots reveals the area around the United Kingdom as the area with the greatest number of accidents and the coastal areas around East Asian countries (such as China, Japan, and South Korea) and the Mediterranean Sea as the areas with the next highest number of accidents. These results compare well with a previously published paper. Second, maritime accidents may not frequently occur in the open sea; however, accidents frequently happen in coastal areas, with 51.1% of the total accidents happening within 25 mi of the continents and 62.2% within 50 mi.