Editorial CommEnt
Safety pressures
mount on newbuild
surge
dnV monitors the annual frequency of serious accidents, and
has established a disturbing trend.
industry to maintain its traditional good track record, the resilience of operations has to
be addressed on a larger scale by industry players.’
A
w

orrying study has emerged from Det
Norske Veritas, which confirms that,
in a crucial aspect, accidents involving
ships are on the increase, after years when
shipowner associations were able to claim that
the number of incidents was in decline.
Updated figures for 2007 show that the losses
from navigational accidents within the shipping
industry are continuing to increase. This trend
is also confirmed by the insurance industry,
DNV says. Premiums may increase by as much
as 30% in 2008.
DNV monitors the annual frequency of
serious accidents. Over the past five years, there
has been an increasing incidence of serious
navigational accidents in several shipping navigational accident frequency for various ship segments.
segments. This increase is confirmed by leading
insurance companies such as Skuld, Norwegian
Hull Club, and The Swedish Club. increased deliveries of newbuildings has pressure results in a high workload. Adding
In addition to the increasing frequency of been an increase in the pressure on crews. new and more complex equipment [alone]
navigational accidents, DNV says that the cost ‘The shortage of officers has resulted in lower does not help the situation. Avoiding accidents
of each repair caused by accidents is rising. At retention and faster promotion’, the class body under such situations requires a good safety
this time, yards are overbooked, making it hard says. ‘As a result, the general level of experience culture, something which the maritime
to find a repair slot and resulting in increased is decreasing onboard. At the same time new industry evidently needs to focus more on.’
prices. Collisions, groundings, and contacts now technical solutions have been introduced The experience of leading shipping
account for 60% of the most costly accidents. which might have increased the complexity of companies shows that the focus has to be
Dr Torkel Soma, principal safety consultant, operations.’ turned more in the direction of human
DNV Maritime, says: ‘DNV’s statistics show Dr Soma says: ‘Reliable technology and elements and organisational factors, including
that a ship is twice as likely to be involved complying [with] manuals are no assurance all those involved - from the directors of the
in a serious grounding, collision, or contact against making errors. Collisions, groundings, company to the officers on the bridge. Dr
accident today compared to only five years ago. and contact accidents do almost always involve Soma sums up: ‘Radical safety performance
In addition, estimates also show that the costs of human acts.’ improvements with reduced accident
these accidents have doubled. Since this is the
P
H
ic
e
:
lge Kjeøy, regional manager, DNV frequency have been achieved through a
general trend for the international commercial MDNV aritimemonitors South Eathe st Aannual sia adds:frequency ‘The main of sserious tructureaccidents, and has established a disturbing d approach addressing behaviour
fleet, the maritime industry needs to act on this factrtoernsd e.xplaining the negative developments and culture. For the industry to maintain its
immediately.’ over the past few years are that the undersupply traditional good track record, the resilience of
DNV points out that one consequence of crew worldwide results in reduced operations has to be addressed on a larger scale
of the boom in the shipping market and experience and that the high commercial by industry players.’ NA
The Naval Architect March 2008 
NA Mar 08 - p5.indd 5 11/03/2008 14:01:01
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