Omar Arce, Implementation Specialist
Every year, EMSA publishes its Annual Overview of Marine Casualties and Incidents, and every year it’s worth reading closely. Behind the tables are seafarers doing some of the most demanding jobs there are, and the data shows where their working day has become safer and where it hasn’t yet.
The 2026 edition focuses on 2025 and sets it against the nine years before, for EU-flagged ships, ships in EU waters and cases where the EU has a substantial interest. I took a closer look at collisions, one of the main safety events in the report, and at the people and ships lost in them.
Collisions in 2025, and the people behind the numbers
EMSA recorded 188 collisions in 2025, up from 181 the year before, involving 383 ships. 6 ships were lost in collisions, up from 2 in 2024 and close to the 10-year average of 5, and 3 people lost their lives. (....)