Page 14 - INTERCARGO - Bulk Carrier Casualty Report 2024

ANALYSIS

OF TOTAL LOSSES

FROM 2014 TO 2023

• 21 bulk carriers over 10,000 dwt have been identified
as lost, an average of 2.1 per year.

• 89 crew members lost their lives as consequence,
or on average nine fatalities per year.
• The average age of the bulk carriers lost was 19.4 years.

• Vessels amounting to 1.78 million dwt in total have been
lost, an average 177,526 dwt per year.

Losses by cause

Reported cause Losses of life Losses of ships Likely root cause Losses of ships
Cargo liquefaction 55 3 Cargo liquefaction 3
Cargo shift 0 1 Unknown 1
Fire/explosion 0 1 Human element 1
Structural 1
Flooding 22 3
Unknown 2
Human element 7
Grounding 0 9 Weather 1
Navigation 1
Collision 0 1 Unknown 1
Unknown 2
Weather 12 3
Machinery 1
TOTAL 89 21 21

• Cargo liquefaction remains the greatest contributor to loss
of life, accounting for 55 lives or 61.8% of the total loss of life in
the past ten years.
• Groundings remain the greatest cause of ship losses, with

nine losses or 42.9% of the total.
• Three casualties (14.3% of the total) were a result of flooding
and these cost 22 lives - a significant 24.7% of the total number

of lives lost.
• The average life loss per ship casualty was 4.24 during the ten-
year period between 2014 and 2023, and 4.00 between 2013
and 2022, 3.41 between 2012 and 2021. This compares to 3.56
during 2011 and 2020.

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