Fewer ships lost, but still lots of accidents

LARGE shipping losses are now at their lowest level this century having declined by over 50 per cent year on year, according to insurance company Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty's Safety & Shipping Review 2019. Now one might validly point out that this century is not yet very old but nevertheless that is an encouraging piece of news.

Indeed there has been a positive trend since the millennium. There were 207 total losses of ships of over 100 gross tonnage reported in 2000. By contrast, 46 large ships were recorded as total losses worldwide in 2018, down by a record 50 per cent annually and 55 per cent below the 10-year average of 104.

To put this into context, there are around 60,000 merchant ships in operation around the world. Of the 1,036 ships counted as losses over the past decade, only half of them sank with the rest being declared constructive total losses, that is to say beyond repair.