The When, Where, How and Why of Fatal Ferry Accidents

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Jasmine Pope
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1 The When, Where, How and Why of Fatal Ferry Accidents What can Interferry do about them and their resulting reputational damage to the wider ferry industry? By Neil Baird, Chairman, Baird Maritime Presented at Interferry 2017, Split, Croatia, October 2017.

2 Poor safety record of domestic ferries There were 750 known fatal ferry accidents in the fifty years to December 2015 They led to the deaths of 59,600 people How many unknown accidents and fatalities have there been? We know much more since the advent of the Internet around 2000 Since 2000 known accidents and fatalities have tripled. That cannot be correct 93% of known fatal ferry accidents occur on domestic voyages Many accidents obviously went unrecorded before Some obviously still do They embarrass us all and damage our industry s reputation Many, if not most, of them could be prevented

3 Fatal ferry accidents continue to occur Ferry travel is the third safest means of public transport after aviation and railways. It should be the safest Northern European and North American ferries have become much safer since 1996 Aviation, oil tanker and developed country road traffic accidents and fatalities have decreased dramatically, and continue to decrease, since 1980 Why, then, has the ferry death toll increased so much and stayed high?

4 Geographical analysis of accidents 11.3% 18.2% 10.1% 33.6% 51.5% 9.5% 16.5% 6.7% 2.7% 4.8% 3.5% 3.5% 4.1% 5.0% 8.8% 10.4% Bangladesh Philippines Indonesia China USA DR Congo India All Others Philippines Bangladesh Indonesia Tanzania DR Congo China Haiti All Others Geographical analysis of accidents and fatalities. By accidents on the left and fatalities on the right inclusive. Seven countries account for 66% of known fatal accidents Note the absence of Myanmar/Burma from this data. (BMPVA database).

5 Twenty worst countries are home to 90% of ferry fatalities The fifty year and most recent sixteen year statistics are tragically consistent The Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Tanzania, DR Congo, China, Haiti, Myanmar, Egypt and Senegal are consistently dangerous with 80% of annual ferry fatalities. The most dangerous ten Other dangerous countries are India, Nigeria, South Korea, Estonia, Brazil, Sierra Leone, Greece, Peru, Russia and Yemen with a further 10% of ferry fatalities. The next worst ten Estonia s clearly was a one off 93% of fatal ferry accidents occur on domestic voyages

6 Known ferry fatalities by country Philippines 10,370 Sierra Leone 698 Cameroon 223 Bangladesh 9,820 Greece 372 Nepal 195 Indonesia 6,213 Peru 361 Belgium 193 Tanzania 5,186 Russia 348 Madagascar 185 DR Congo 2,978 Yemen 324 Vietnam 185 China 2,426 PNG 316 USA 166 Haiti 2,163 Somalia 307 Denmark 162 Egypt 1,981 Saudi Arabia 301 Pakistan 162 Senegal 1,863 Malaysia 287 Hong Kong 161 Myanmar 1,514 Kenya 273 Romania 161 India 1,505 Thailand 259 Burundi 160 Nigeria 1,165 Italy 257 Djibouti 124 South Korea 956 South Sudan 250 Ghana 120 Estonia 912 Uganda 243 UAE 105 Brazil 863 Leeward Is. 233 Colombia 100

7 What the worst 20 have in common Relative or absolute poverty Recognised high levels of corruption Archipelagic, riverine or lakeland geography Disproportionate dependence on water transport Inadequate maritime education and training Inadequate regulation and enforcement Largely invisible to IMO despite its laudable statements of intent in its 2015 Manila Statement Poor SAR facilities and support

8 Human error the major cause 1.9% 4.1% 7.7% 7.4% 4.3% 14.7% 36.1% 33.7% 21.5% 15.9% 21.5% 31.2% Unseaworthy Poor lookout Overloaded Negligence Suicide/Accident All Other Overloaded Unseaworthy Poor lookout Negligence Poor seamanship All Other Author assessed causes of fatal passenger vessel accidents By accidents on the left and by fatalities on the right. (BMPVA database).

9 The realities of human errors 88% of fatal ferry accidents and 98% of fatalities are the result of human error Structural and mechanical failure is negligible Some vessels, Ro-Pax and bancas are more vulnerable Main errors are overloading and operating unseaworthy vessels and poor lookout All are prevalent in the world s twenty most dangerous countries for ferry fatalities IMO is aware of all of them but largely ignores them because most are engaged on domestic voyages

10 How to reduce ferry fatalities One of the twenty modern Ro-Pax catamaran ferries designed by Stuart Ballantyne s Sea Transport Solutions and built by Bonny Fair in China that are being operated by Fast Cat Ferries in the Philippines. At least ten more such vessels are planned.

11 Safety improvements Interferry should support * Encourage IMO to better support national governments as ICAO has done Encourage IMO to more effectively implement the very laudable objectives of its 2015 Manila Statement on domestic ferries Learn from and emulate Intertanko s safety improvement achievements achieved in co-operation with IMO Name and shame proven dangerous operators Promote introduction of safer ferries Encourage improved SAR services Encourage seller due diligence on sale of second-hand Ro-Pax ferries to developing countries Promote ban on smoking on all ferries Develop and learn from global database of accidents/near misses Ensure delinquent owners, operators, bureaucrats and classification societies are held accountable for their actions, or inactions

KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA NATION RELIGION KING 3

KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA NATION RELIGION KING 3 TOURISM STATISTICS REPORT March 2014 MINISTRY OF TOURISM Statistics and Tourism Information Department No. A3, Street 169, Sangkat Veal Vong, Khan 7 Makara, Phnom