This paper presents a new approach for the modeling of ship
collision probability. Significantly, the model is capable of
providing detailed information about the circumstances in which
ships encounter each other: geographic location, encounter angle,
time of day and type, size and speed of striking and struck vessel
can be analyzed from the model output. This information is
valuable for consequence analyses, which, combined with the
probability analysis directly obtained from the model, provide the
risk level.
Even though the presented model is bound by some rather
stringent idealizations and assumptions, such as omission of
vessel maneuverability and the negligence of environmental
conditions, the results seem reasonable by virtue of comparison
with analysis of accident statistics and close encounters. Nevertheless,
more validation is needed: the model could be applied in
other sea areas for which near-miss data is available and an
analysis based on AIS data of 2007 and onwards can be performed
for the Gulf of Finland and compared with near-miss data.
Interestingly, comparing results of the dynamic simulation in this
paper with results obtained from Pedersen’s model [8,10], show
that the assumptions in Pedersen’s model are too stringent,
especially the Poisson assumption of vessel arrivals.
It is expected that the presented simulation model can be
expanded to include additional parameters in the traffic events,
such as vessel age, flag and crew competence level, which in turn
may be used in an improved model for the causation probability.
In addition, a model for environmental conditions could be
coupled to the simulation results.
The application of AIS data to model the traffic is done to
obtain an as realistic as possible description of the maritime