Reader Adam sent us this image of the latest marine casualties charted by type. Click on the HERE for the interactive image or HERE for other versions of this data.

Adam’s timing was perfect as MM&P posted this dismaying news on their weekly newsletter;

The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) has reported a dramatic increase in the number of total and partial losses of ships. Weather remains the major cause of total losses, according to the report, but collisions have overtaken groundings as the next most common cause of accidents.

The insurers say they expect that the trend will continue.

The statistics released by IUMI, which represents marine underwriters, show that the number of total losses of ships over 500 gross tons jumped from 67 in 2006 to 82 in 2007, an increase of 37 percent. If the trend continues this year, a total of 112 ships will be lost by March 2009. Continue Reading…

Be careful out there.

UPDATE:

Our friend Professor Kurt Schwehr has charted the USCG’s Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) statistics using the same visulization engine as well as google earth. You can find his data HERE.