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Data sources

The data on maritime transport accidents are collected by the national independent investigative bodies in the EU Member States, Iceland and Norway. These data are reported to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) through the centralised database European Marine Casualty Information Platform (EMCIP). The same concepts and definitions are applied by all reporting countries. The accidents investigated cover marine incidents and casualties that:

• involve ships registered in the country;
• occur within country’s territorial seas and internal waters;
• involve other substantial interests of the country. [1]

The maritime accident data are provided to Eurostat by EMSA under an Administrative Agreement between the two bodies, signed on 29 March 2017, concerning their technical cooperation in the field of maritime transport accident statistics. EMSA is responsible for the entire process of data collection and management. It should be noted that the data may be adjusted when final reports on all marine casualties and incidents have been provided to EMSA by the national independent accident investigation bodies.

The data on maritime accidents disseminated by Eurostat are available from reference year 2011 onwards. The measurement unit is the number of persons that lost their lives in maritime accidents or have sustained serious or minor injuries. Data in Eurostat's free dissemination database are available on an annual basis.

The statistics are grouped according where the vessels are registered ('EU-registered' or 'Registered in other country'), type of vessel (cargo ship, passenger ship, fishing vessel, service ship or other vessel), the category of person affected (crew, passenger or other person) and the ocean region in which the accident occurred. Only data related to moving vessels are included. Regarding fishing vessels, only vessels over 15 meters long are included.

Geographical coverage
Data are provided to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) by the accident investigation bodies of the EU Member States, Norway and Iceland, as foreseen by Directive 2009/18/EC on the investigation of accidents in maritime transport (also known as the 'Accident Investigation Directive' or 'AI Directive'). All accidents are recorded by the responsible national authorities.

Detailed country data are confidential and, consequently, not disseminated. Information related to the country of registration of the ship or the coastal state is grouped under either: 'EU Member States', 'Non-EU countries', or 'Unknown' (if relevant).

Marine accidents are categorised according to the ocean region where they occurred, not to the country that reported the accident. The 'Rest of the world' category is used when the accident did not occur in the territorial seas of one of the EU Member States, but involved a vessel registered in an EU Member State.

EU aggregates
The European Union is composed of 27 Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

Czechia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia are landlocked countries without ocean or sea coasts.

EU territorial seas
The EU territorial seas are made up of the territorial seas and internal waters of the EU Member States. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) defines the 'territorial sea' of a country as the area within which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends, beyond its land territory and internal waters. It is a belt of coastal water extending at most 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state.

The EMSA data on maritime accidents and fatalities group accidents that occur in EU territorial seas according to the ocean regions in which these territorial waters lie: Baltic Sea, North Sea, English Channel, Atlantic Ocean, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea. In this context, accidents occurring in international waters or in the territorial waters of non-EU countries are not included in these regions of EU territorial waters, but are categorised as 'Rest of the world'.

Marine casualty
The datasets disseminated by Eurostat contain data on persons who lost their lives and persons that sustained injuries in maritime accidents.

A marine casualty is defined as an event (or sequence of events) in connection with the operations of a ship, resulting in any of the following:

• death or serious injury of a person;
• loss of a person from a ship;
• loss, presumed loss or abandonment of a ship;
• material damage to a ship;
• stranding or disabling of a ship, or involvement of a ship in a collision;
• material damage to marine infrastructure external to a ship that could seriously endanger the safety of the ship, another ship or an individual; or
• severe damage to the environment, or the potential for severe damage to the environment due to the damage of a ship.

However, a marine casualty does not include a deliberate act or omission with the intention of affecting the safety of a ship, an individual or the environment.

Ship types

• Cargo ship: a commercial ship designed for the carriage of various types of cargo, goods or products and up to a maximum of 12 passengers.
• Fishing vessel: a vessel equipped or used commercially for catching fish or other living resources at sea.
• Passenger ship: a ship designed to transport more than 12 passengers.
• Service ship: a ship designed for special services, like a tugboat or a dredger.
• Other ships: such vessels are only considered when involved in an accident or other incident that includes a ship covered by the Accident Investigation Directive (Directive 2009/18/EC) or when the incidence occurs in a maritime area such as a maritime port. Such ships may be:
  • Inland waterway vessel: a vessel intended solely or mainly for navigation on inland waterways.
  • Recreational craft: a boat of any type, regardless of the means of propulsion, intended for sports or leisure purposes.
  • Navy ship: a ship operating under the navy or other military organisation.
  • Unknown ship type: occurrence for which it was not possible to identify the vessel type.

Only data related to moving vessels (and over 15 meters for fishing vessels) are provided to Eurostat.

Accidents related to inland waterway vessels are excluded from the Eurostat tables when the accident took place on an inland waterway.

Context

Shipping is of strategic importance to the EU’s economy: every year, 2 billion tonnes of cargo are loaded and unloaded at EU ports, while 1 billion tonnes of oil transits through EU ports and EU territorial seas. Each year, more than 400 million passengers embark and disembark at European ports. Overall, maritime industries are an important source of employment and income for the European economy. This is why the EU is constantly developing and intensifying its maritime safety policy.

The European Union and its Member States are at the forefront of improving maritime safety legislation and promoting high-quality standards. The aim is to eliminate substandard shipping, increase the protection of passengers and crews, reduce the risk of environmental pollution, and ensure that operators who follow good practices are not put at a commercial disadvantage compared with those prepared to take shortcuts with vessel safety.

The EU has put in place an extensive legislative framework for safety, environmental protection and quality shipping. The EU's action in the field of maritime safety and protection of the environment enhances international legal conventions such as the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), which are both overseen by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Amongst its other important tasks, EMSA collects safety data and shares it with the Commission, as arranged in the Administrative Arrangement between Eurostat and EMSA.

International law requires that countries affected by an accident at sea investigate the causes and propose ways of preventing recurrences in the future. The idea underpinning Directive 2009/18/EC governing the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector is to improve maritime safety by providing clear EU guidelines for the harmonisation of technical investigations and lessons learnt after accidents at sea, without determining or assigning any civil or criminal liability.

Notes