Identifying the association levels of marine accidents involving tankers in the Baltic Sea region

Year 2025, Volume: 14 Issue: 4, 166 - 179, 31.12.2025

Coşkan Sevgili , Burak Kundakçı

https://doi.org/10.33714/masteb.1802522

Abstract

Maritime transportation is the backbone of global trade, and the Baltic Sea region is one of the busy waterways in the world. Increase in marine traffic brings the possibility of marine accidents. There are significant risks for the human life, vessel and environment with these accidents. The aim of this research is to analyse the marine accidents in the Baltic Sea region and determine the relationship between the factors of these accidents with Association Rule Mining method. In this context, 278 marine accident reports between 2000 and 2023 for the Baltic Sea region are analysed with Apriori algorithm. According to the results of the analysis, ‘non-Flag of convenience (non-FOC)’, ‘small size tankers’, ‘vessels over 12 years old’, ‘chemical tankers’ and ‘loaded vessels’ were found to be the most frequent items in forming of the rules. When the rules according to the accident severity are analysed, ‘Canal’, ‘Kiel Canal’, ‘non-FOC’, ‘small size tankers’, ‘collision’, ‘vessels over 12 years old’ and ‘contact’ were found to be the most frequent items in forming of the rules. It is expected that the results of this study can be helpful for the relevant authorities to understand the accidents in this region.

Keywords

Apriori algorithm , Association rule mining , Marine accidents , Tankers

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