Insurance companies claim that the sea engulfed a total of 1,271 ships between 2005-2014.
The German insurance group Allianz has recorded the following figures in its annual report.
Overall incidents for the years 2005-2014
| Total incidents | 24,545 |
| Total losses | 1,271 |
| Sunken ships | 603 |
| Grounding | 252 |
| Collision | 113 |
Most dangerous waters in the world
Incidents by region for the years 2005-2014
| North Sea – Bay of Biscay | 4,381 incidents, 96 total losses |
| Eastern Mediterranean – Black Sea | 3,754 incidents, 163 total losses |
| Southern China and the Philippines | 1,932 incidents, and 253 total losses |
| Western Mediterranean | 888 incidents, 56 total losses |
Incidents with relevance to vessel types
| General cargo ships | 523 |
| Fishing boats | 226 |
| Bulk carriers | 94 |
- 2014 recorded 75 total losses, the lowest level in the last 10 years.
- An average of 127 ships lost per year.
- 333 deaths by shipwreck in 2014(Korean ferry Sewol and sinking of three Indonesian ferries).
- 19 incidents in the Great lakes in last eight years (six in 2013 alone).
- Predominant causes for incidents identified: fires, engine and transmission damage, and collisions with submerged wrecks.
- 36 container carriers were declared total losses in the ten-year period.
Justifications:
- In 2005 global fleet expanded by 80% with ships in 19,000 TEU capacity.
- Slow streaming have shrunk 45% when compared to 2010.
- Arctic navigation is mostly electronic dominated.
- 3 arctic incidents in 2005 has risen to 33 in 2014 (the majority because of damage to engines).
- More dependence on electronic gadgets caused bad incidents.
- The reason that is more apocalyptic, is of possible attacks by hacker pirates, especially on electronic maps, GPS and AIS, which have been identified as possibly vulnerable targets.
Source: The MediTelegraph
