2. Trends in the occurrence of marine accidents
A total of 7,081 marine accidents involving 8,144 vessels occurring in 1998 were recognized by commissioners between January 1998 and March 1999. This represents a decrease of 622 accidents, or 8.1%, and 737 vessels, or 8.3%, from the previous year.
The annual number of marine accidents and vessels involved in such accidents have declined steadily in the past five years, averaging 8,001 and 9,280, respectively.
Fig. 2-1-2 Marine accidents and vessels involved
Notes 1. Marine accidents that occurred in 1998 but were not reported by March 31, 1999, are not included in statistics for 1998 here and elsewhere in this report.
2. The number of vessels involved may exceed the number of marine accidents because accidents may involve more than one vessel.
3. Analysis of marine accidents
(1) Location of accident
In terms of location, marine accidents can be divided roughly into those occurring inside and those occurring outside Japanese territorial waters. In 1998, 6,393 marine accidents occurred inside Japanese territorial waters, a decline of 643 from 1997 and 90.3% of the total, while 688 occurred outside Japanese waters, an increase of 21 from 1997 and 9.7% of the total.
