Germany’s Federal Bureau for Maritime Casualty Investigation (BSU) has published its Annual Report for 2023, providing useful insights on marine casualties.
The total number of notifications has risen sharply year-on-year: 698 in 2023 compared to 659 in 2022. This represents an increase of almost 6%. Slight year-on-year fluctuations can be seen in the two ‘main categories’. In the case of marine casualties according to the IMO Code, there was a significant increase of more than 10% (120 to 134) and in the case of incidents, a slight reduction (294 to 273).
However, the increase in global reporting is mainly due to the rise in the number of OCIs reported, i.e., cases for which the BSU is not responsible or that do not constitute an accident (237 to 291). This alone includes 20 notifications concerning vessels that could not be reached on the local radio channel 80. The total number of actual accidents has remained almost identical: 414 in the previous year to 407 in 2023.
The development of global reporting to the BSU is as follows:
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OCI/NC | 191 | 219 | 249 | 247 | 237 | 291 |
| Incidents | 274 | 250 | 244 | 280 | 294 | 273 |
| Marine casualties | 112 | 112 | 109 | 132 | 120 | 134 |
| Total | 577 | 581 | 602 | 659 | 651 | 698 |
There were changes here compared to the previous year. Less serious marine casualties have increased from 92 to 109 cases, SMCs have dropped from 26 to 22 cases, and VSMCs have increased from two to three cases.
The following graph shows the trend over the past five years:
| Year | Very serious marine casualties | Serious marine casualties | Less serious marine casualties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 4 | 22 | 86 |
| 2020 | 1 | 37 | 71 |
| 2021 | 4 | 42 | 86 |
| 2022 | 2 | 26 | 92 |
| 2023 | 3 | 22 | 109 |
The number of fatalities and missing persons on commercial vessels has risen sharply compared to previous years. However, this is only based on two accidents – with the VERITY and POLESIE collision alone accounting for five seafarers. The number of people injured has once more increased. A total of 40 people were reported injured in marine casualties.
