It showed the MAIB received 1,592 reports of marine casualties and incidents last year – involving 1,741 vessels.
While the report showed the number of occurrences raised was higher than usual, in other respects it had been a “fairly average year”.
27 recommendations were issued last year with 26 of them accepted and 13 which have already been implemented.
In terms of safety issues involving merchant ships, Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents, Captain Andrew Moll OBE, said two accidents stood out last year.
The first was the girting of the tug Biter in February while assisting Hebridean Princess, which involved the deaths of the skipper and the deckhand. The Chief Inspector said the report into this incident would be published later this year with an accompanying safety video stressing the importance of using gob rope on conventional tugs to mitigate the risks of girting.
The second was the collision on general cargo vessel Verity and bulk carrier Polesie that resulted in Verity sinking with the deaths of five crewmembers.
In regard to safety issues involving commercial fishing vessels the report said: “There is a temptation to measure safety in the fishing industry by the annual tally of fatalities. Each death is a tragedy and fortunately there are few of them, though four lives were lost in 2023. This is below six, which is the average number of fatalities per year taken over the last decade but, as [the table] in the report shows, the variation year-to-year is significant, making it hard to determine a firm trend. A better metric for measuring fishing safety should be the total number of accidents reported to MAIB each year.”
The table showed the total number of accidents reported in 2017 was 212, compared to 2023 which a total of 102 accidents reported – with the Chief Inspector saying that at face value this would indicate a sustained improvement in safety.
The Chief Inspector added: “… but I am concerned that there is significant under-reporting of fishing vessel accidents. Twice in the last year, the branch has been contacted by lawyers supporting fishers pursuing personal injury claims but we have found no record of their accident. In both cases the injuries were significant, would have required hospital treatment, and the individuals had to give up their career in fishing. These were reportable accidents, and that they were ‘hidden’ speaks volumes about the safety culture on the vessels involved. The MAIB’s reports aim to improve future safety, but we can only fulfil this task if accidents are reported to us.”
The MAIB is an independent branch of the UK Department for Transport, the MAIB examines and investigates all types of marine accidents to UK vessels worldwide, and within UK territorial waters.
Download the report: MAIB Annual Report 2023
