New Data Reveals Risk of Maritime Incidents in Ports and Terminals

Maritime ESG company Rightship has come out with an alarming new statistic showing that about half of maritime incidents take place in ports and terminals—a higher percentage than previously thought.

Rightship data shows that there were 2,400 incidents in 2022 where location data was recorded. Among them, about 50% occurred within port and terminal boundaries, including at berth or using facilities, waiting at anchorage, and during harbor transit. Drilling down on the data, the majority of port and terminal incidents, or 813, took place at docks.

“This statistic should be worrying to harbour masters and operations teams,” said Yucel Yildiz, RightShip’s Port and Terminal Manager. “Even though many larger ports are used to manage vessels of varying operational and safety standards each day, the data shows that the inherent risk while the vessel is within a port’s boundary is much larger than we previously thought.”

Maritime incidents at ports and terminals can be costly and time-consuming as they can severely reduce a port’s ability to process vessels. However, Rightship says port authorities and terminal operators can reduce incidents by using a combination of data focused on pre-arrivals and departures and sharing information.

“Many of these risks are out of the port’s control, and they need to be ready to deal with issues as they occur, while also making sure their operations across all facilities are not disrupted,” added Yildiz.

RightShip collects global incident data from various sources, including Port State Control and MOUs, classification societies, flag states, shipowner and managers self-reporting, as well as other data sources. The company is a leading provider of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) metrics to the maritime industry and provides a digital platform and services to help companies manage risk and improve overall maritime safety standards.

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