In light of recent statistics and findings from the Panama Maritime Authority regarding maritime incidents and casualties in the past four years (2020-2023), it is evident that there are critical areas requiring improvement in the implementation of Safety Management Systems across the fleet.
Considering the commitment to the objectives of the IMO Casualty Investigation Code adopted by Resolution MSC.255(84), which encourages the authority to enable the wide dissemination of information to assist the international maritime industry in addressing safety issues, this Administration is pleased to share the following statistics:
Conclusions on Graph No. 1:
Conclusions on Graph No. 2:
According to Graph No. 2, collision, occupational accident, and Main Engine Failure were the top three accident types registered in the captioned period (2020-2023).
Conclusions on Graph No. 3:
According to Graph No. 3, Inadequate Maintenance, Inadequate Risk Assessment, and Inadequate Bridge Management were the top three causal factors registered in the captioned period (2021-2023). Remarkably, such identified factors are directly related to the inadequate implementation of the Safety Management System on board the fleet.
Conclusions on Graph No. 4:
During the period of 2020-2023, Graph No. 4 shows that Bulkers had the most marine incidents/casualties with 49%, followed by General Cargo Ships with 29% and Container Ships with 22% of the total 906 cases:
Conclusions on Graph No. 5:
According to Graph No. 5, there were 327 injured, 220 fatalities, 127 missing, and 117 ill crew members during the captioned period (2020-2023).
It is remarkable that of the 228 fatalities, most of them were related to the natural death (43%), occupational accident (26%), illness (11%), suicide (7%), and fire on board (5%).
It is evident that the incidents and accidents on board of the Panama Merchant Fleet have a direct relation with the managers, operators, recognized organizations involve on the safe operation of the vessels and the safety management system implementation.
Based in the information from last 4 years, the ship´s structure maintenance, the crew familiarization and training as well as the quality of internal audits and certification audit suggest that the Safety Management System has numerus areas to be improved.
That said, recognized organizations, flag inspectors, owners, operators, ship’s Masters, and ship managers are required to work in a comprehensive, and unified manner with the highest commitment and standardization and pay more attention to the time they are carrying out internal and certification audits.
