Global ship accidents and ocean swell-related sea states
Abstract. With the increased frequency of shipping activities, navigation safety has become a major concern, especially when economic losses, human casualties and environmental issues are considered. As a contributing factor, sea state conditions play a significant role in shipping safety. However, the types of dangerous sea states that trigger serious shipping accidents are not well understood. To address this issue, we analyzed the sea state characteristics during ship accidents that occurred in poor weather or heavy seas based on a ten-year ship accident dataset. The sea state parameters, including the significant wave height, the mean wave period and the mean wave direction, obtained from numerical wave model data were analyzed for selected ship accidents. The results indicated that complex sea states with the co-occurrence of wind sea and swell conditions represent threats to sailing vessels, especially when these conditions include close wave periods and oblique wave directions.