What does the future hold for safety at sea and how should the maritime industry adapt to prevent serious accidents from occurring and ultimately, save lives? These questions and more are covered in the recently published future of maritime safety report published by Inmarsat.
Any vessel at sea can be exposed to many dangers, from severe weather conditions to equipment failure, piracy, and unpredictable circumstances such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic and crew change crisis, resulting in exhausted crew members.
The latest research by Inmarsat showcases three years of Inmarsat Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) vessel distress call data, providing unique insights into some of today’s trends, highlighting the need for a strong collaborative industry approach and cultural change to focus minds on true areas for concern and develop a vision for shipping’s future.
With the commercial vessel fleet growing by 4.1 per cent in 2019, the report logs 834 distress calls made by Inmarsat GMDSS service users in 2020, compared to 761 in the previous year. In capturing the broadly stable relationship between ships in service and distress call numbers, the report nonetheless highlights specific areas for attention.
“We believe that the creation of an online anonymised data lake of safety information will allow us to identify weak spots and solutions, allocate resources and measure progress towards enhanced safety,” said Peter Broadhurst, senior vice president of safety & security at Inmarsat Maritime. “Where safety is concerned, data should be shared to create a level playing field for the entire industry.”
The report also establishes significant trends that merit close scrutiny by all stakeholders and offers a powerful example of the potential for analytics and new technology to provide the basis for a data-driven and more proactive safety to prevent serious accidents in the future.
Download the report: Future of Maritime Safety Report